The GREGORIAN

The
GREGORIAN
Q2 2014
OUR HOMAGE TO
HIS HOLINESS BASELIOS MARTHOMA DIDYMOS I SEVENTH
CATHOLICOSE OF THE EAST IN MALANKARA.
A condolence meeting to express our grief and sorrow at the passing away of our Holy Father Mar Baselios
Marthoma Didymos I was held in the parish after the Holy Qurbana on 1 st June.2014. Fr. Philipose Philip
chaired the meeting. Mr. Ronnie Daniel delivered a thoughtful speech about the Valiya Bava Thirumeni.
Trustee Mr. Matt Mathews read a condolence resolution and Secretary Mr. Skaria Koshy seconded and it was
approved by all present and the same was forwarded to the Holy Apostolic Synod.
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From the Desk of the Vicar
“ GIVE WHAT YOU HAVE”.
Proverb.11.25 “Those who help others are helped”
One night during the year 1960, an Afro American woman stood beside a Highway in Alabama in
a fearsome rainstorm. Her car had broken down and she desperately needed a ride. She flagged
a car. When she did, she found a white young man stopping his car, which was quite a surprise
for her in those racially charged atmosphere in Alabama. He drove her to safety and helped her
to get a taxi and finally she reached her home. She thanked him profusely and took his address.
A week later, to the man’s great surprise, a color console T.V. was delivered at his address with a
note that read” Thank you for helping me on the High way the other night. The rain had
drenched not only my clothes, but also my spirits. Because you came along, I made it to my dying
husband’s bedside before he passed away. God bless you for unselfishingly serving others. Mrs.
Nat King Cole”
Every day opportunities to serve others are coming towards you. Learn to see and seize them.
God says” The one who bless others is abundantly blessed. Those who help others are helped”.
You should not help others expecting to get something in return. The Bible says” The Lord will
bless—and prosper everything you do--- if you obey Him”. Deu . 28. 8-9. So if you want to
experience God’s blessings in a major way today, go out to give what you have.
Vicar. V. Rev. Ramban Lazarus Corepiscopa.
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Activities of the parish for the 2nd Quarter of 2014
SPIRITUAL ACTIVITIES
HOLY WEEK SERVICES.
This year the Holy Week Services in the Parish were conducted by Fr. Jacob Philip from Kerala.
The Holy Week Services started with the retreat on Saturday 12 th April. Fr Jacob Philip conducted
the retreat. Achen explained the details of the manner in which “ the Lent “ is to be observed by
the members of the church.
The other important services of the Holy Week namely the Palm Sunday , the feast of Passover or
Pessaha, Good Friday, Gospel Saturday , culminating with Easter Services were attended by
large number of people in the parish. Many members who attended the services confessed that
they felt a spiritual awakening and blessed feeling while attending the services. After having
conducted the Holy Week Services, Fr Jacob Philip left for New York on April 21 st.
ASCENSION DAY
Ascension day perunal service was held in the parish on Thursday May 29 th. Holy Qurbana was
celebrated by Fr. Philipose Philip on 29th May to commemorate the Ascension Day.
PENTECOST DAY
Pentecost Day was observed in the Parish on Sunday June 8th. Holy Qurbana was celebrated by
Fr. Philipose Philip on Sunday June 8th.
APOSTLES”S LENT
The Apostles’ Lent began on Monday 16th June and was over by 30th June. On Sunday 29th June
H.G. Mar Meletius celebrated Holy Qurbana in the Parish.
MONTHLY PRAYER MEETING
The prayer meeting for the month of June was held on Saturday 21st June at the residence of Mr.
Koshy K Mathew,2257 Malden Court, Mississauga.
SUNDAY SCHOOL ACTIVITIES.
Thu Sunday School classes were being held regularly in the Parish. Apart from their studies as per
Sunday school curriculum, they have actively participated in all parish spiritual events.
Highlights from April, May and June
On April 19th, after our Easter Holy Qurbana Service, the Sunday School choir performed 2
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beautiful songs, “Because He Lives” and “On That First Easter”. What a great way for them to
celebrate that Christ is Risen!
For Mother’s Day on May 11th, Sherin Kalathil and Justin Samuel gave short speeches to show
how much we appreciate our mothers. Our choir also performed a song dedicated to all mothers.
On June 15th, Aliena Aju recited a short poem and speech in honour of Father’s Day, followed by
our choir serenading all fathers.
We will enjoy our summer break in July and August. Classes will resume on September 7 th when
we begin our new Sunday School year for 2014-15.
MGOCSM ACTIVITIES
The youth came out to 2 events this year; the first was the MGOCSM Lenten Retreat that took
place at the St. Thomas Church on Saturday March 15th, of which 8 youth attended. Our second
event was held on Saturday May 31st at Center-Island in Downtown Toronto, of which 10 of our
youth came together for a 'Youth Day'.
MMVS ACTIVITIES
MMVS, as a spiritual organization of the parish, does engage in spiritual pursuits of its own and
provide social and cultural services to the members of the parish. Its spiritual pursuits include
organizing devotional meetings once in every month where we study, meditate and discuss on
different topics selected from the Bible. The topics selected for study invariably are the life and
work of important lady characters in the Bible worthy to emulate. The MMVS members actively
participate in the church choir and provide their talents to make our service very attractive. We
pool our financial resources and give it for charity. We make arrangements for food to all
members of the parish on all important perunal days of the parish.
VISITS OF BISHOPS/PRIESTS
H.G. Youhanon Mar Meletius visited the parish and celebrated the Holy Qurbana on Sun 29 th
June
Fr. Philipose Philip- Celebrated Holy Qurbana on May 29th, June,1st , June 8th and June 22nd.
Fr. Daniel Pullelil. Celebrated Holy Qurbana on June 15th.
ADMINISTRATIVE NEWS.
Joint meetings of the managing committee, finance committee, and fund raising committees
were held on 30th March and 6th April. The recommendations of the finance committees are
implemented by the managing committee.
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Vicar V. Rev. Rambachen went to Kerala, for his annual Ayurveda treatment and recuperation,
during the last week of May and will be returned during the first week of August 2014. In his
absence, Worship Services in the parish were conducted by Fr. Philipose Philip and Fr. Daniel
Pullelil in the month of June.
OTHER NEWS.
Weddings
1) Ms. Susan George, erstwhile member of our parish and Mr. Baby.T. Mathew, member of St.
Thomas Indian Orthodox Church, Warren, Michigan were united in holy matrimony on
Saturday April 26th.2014.in Mississauga, Toronto.
2) The wedding of Dr. Eva Elizabeth Sunny, daughter of Mr& Mrs. Sunny Mathews ,
members of our parish with Dr. Dreg Davidson, son of Mr & Mrs. Steve
Davidson , Knoxville, Tennesse was solemnized on Saturday 10th May 2014 at
Troy, Michigan. U S.
3) The marriage between Mr. Pratap John Mathews, son of Mr. Mathews John and
Mrs. Susan Mathews members of our parish, and Ms. Julia Kottayil, daughter of
Mr. Francis and Thressia Kottayil members of St. Luke Catholic Parish , Calgary
was solemnized in Brampton, Toronto on Monday 30th June.
May our Lord shower His abundant blessings, everlasting happiness and marital
bliss to the newly married couples. We Wish Them a Long and Happy Married Life.
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Upcoming Events of the Next Quarter.
Parish Picnic.
The Parish picnic will be held ON SATURDAY, AUGUST 2ND.2014 at 800 LAKEFRONT
PROMENADE, EAST OF CAWTHRA. MISSISSAUAGA, SHELTER.B.
Keep the day free for a happy meeting and merry making event for all members of
the parish. Detail announcement will be made in the parish in due course.
Transfiguration Perunal.
Transfiguration perunal will be observed in the parish on Wednesday 6th
August .2014 and there will be Holy Qurbana in the evening at 7.00PM.
Soonoyo Perunal
Soonoyo Perunal ( Dormition of St. Mary) is on Friday 15th August 2014 and there
will be Holy Qurbana on the same day at 7.00PM.
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Plotting Nicea III Could Be Pope Francis's Masterstroke
Meeting the head of the Eastern Orthodox church, the pope set a date for a third historic meeting
of Christian factions—a savvy move to control how his successors lead.
After all the speculation surrounding Pope Francis’s ability to engineer peace on his big Middle
East trip, the biggest news from the visit came from his visit with Patriarch Bartholomew I, the
primary leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Not to gloat, but we totally called it.
Following the meeting, Bartholomew gave an interview in which he said that he and Francis are
planning a gathering in 2025 in Nicea. The purpose of this meeting? “To celebrate together, after
17centuries, the first truly ecumenical synod.” That’s right: another historic meeting in Nicea, the
place known as the birthplace of Christianity as we know it today.
As every media outlet on the planet reminded us, the original Council of Nicea was held in 325
C.E. in modern-day Iznik, Turkey. It was attended by hundreds of Bishops and produced the
Nicene Creed, the formulation of the faith that continues to be used to this day and is often
regarded as the definition of Christianity. (Ever attended church and confidently proclaimed, “God
from God, light from light, true God from true God…” only to drop your head and mumble
through the rest? That was the Nicene Creed you were butchering.)
So the date and location are symbolically important. Despite the slight difference in the
terminology (the 2025 meeting is a synod, not a council) this is a conscious effort to evoke the
idea of a unified church. They want us to think of the Council of Nicea. This is about harkening
back to a simpler time, when children knew their place, handwriting mattered, and there was only
one united, universal, and apostolic church.
Lovely, except that the church was never wholly unified and the Council of Nicea wasn’t a
Sunday school picnic.
When the first council was called, there was no formal doctrine of the Trinity. Christians might
have broadly agreed that Jesus was God, but they disagreed about how and in what sense. The key
issue was the relationship of the Son to the Father and whether or not Jesus the Son was made of
the same stuff as God the Father.
The Nicea III plan is more evidence that Pope Francis is interested more in controlling the
direction of church leadership than in micromanaging the lives of the laity.
When the council convened, the church was an organizational mess. Attendance was a bit spotty,
especially from the Western part of the empire. Even Sylvester, the bishop of Rome, sent two
delegates instead of going himself.
Those who did attend disagreed with one another. People often talk about there being an Arian
party, led by Arius, which thought that the Son was a creature subordinate to the Father, and a
Nicene party, which thought that the Son was of the exact same substance as God and existed even
before the creation of time. In fact Christianity was eveore divided than that. As Lewis Ayres
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shows in his book Nicaea and its Legacy, there were numerous points of disagreement and dissent.
It was less of a duel and more of a WWE-styled battle royale.
Much of the theological dispute might seem like hair-splitting, but the stakes were high.
According to legend, Nicholas, Bishop of Myra—Santa Claus to you and me—punched out Arius
rather than listen to his arguments. This might be why he tends to come and go in the dead of
night, rather than stick around for those inevitable family arguments during Christmas lunch.
The council concluded with the emperor Constantine insisting that the bishops come to an
agreement over the wording of the creed. He wanted peace and harmony, and in this respect he
was just another Roman ruler interested in imperial unity.
The eventual outcome of the council was that Arius lost by a vote of 318-3. He was denounced as
a heretic and the Son was declared to be of the same exact substance (homoousios) as the Father.
A clear result, a poetic creed, and most people were happy. That was that.
Except that it wasn’t. There was another council 60 years later to fine-tune the wording of the
Creed, and Arius and his supporters continued to believe and preach exactly what they thought
before.
In sum, the Council of Nicea was less about celebrating unity than enforcing theological
uniformity. In some ways it’s reassuring: when we disagree about church doctrine we can take
comfort in the knowledge that if we’re not resorting to physical violence (looking at you, Santa)
we’re coming out ahead.
Whatever inaccurate mythology is being promoted in the publicizing of “Nicea III,” it’s clear that
this is a stroke of political genius on the part of the leaders of two of the largest denominations in
Christendom. Bartholomew said that he and Francis wanted to leave the synod as a “legacy to
ourselves and our successors.” Neither are young men, and there’s a strong possibility that they
may both be dead by then.
This is a bold move. Despite the power and the pageantry, popes struggle with leaving a lasting
impact on their churches because, theoretically, their successors can mix things up. By announcing
this meeting with such feel-good publicity, they are placing their successors in quite a bind. Even
the grouchiest pope will feel compelled to show up. It’s more evidence that Francis is interested
more in controlling the direction of church leadership than in micromanaging the lives of the laity.
A lot of the buzz surrounding this meeting suggests that Francis is doing more than reforming the
Catholic Church; he’s changing the face of Christianity. But one question still needs to be asked: if
this synod is, as Bartholomew suggests, a truly ecumenical council, will they be inviting any
Protestants?
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ST GREGORIOS INDIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
Place & Time of Worship: First United Church, 151
Lakeshore Road West, Mississauga, ON, L5H 1G3
Time: 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m on Sundays (Holy Qurbana
is held in English every alternate Sunday)
Vicar: Very Rev Ramban Lazarus O.I.C. Corepiscopa
Phone: +1 (905) 393-0639
Email: vicar@stgoc.org
Secretary: Skaria Koshy
Phone: +1 (905) 792-9746
Email: secretary@stgoc.org
Treasurer: Matt Mathews
Phone: +1 (905) 681-6924
Email: trustee@stgoc.org
Parish Web site: www.stgoc.org
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