From the 'solea' (pulpit) to our community on the very unsettling incident in Virginia Saturday.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

As I said this morning, my heart is heavy with what went on in Charlottesville over the weekend. I mentioned some prayers that one could pray during this time. There are some links at the bottom of this email.  We offer up our prayers for the life of the world.   

As Orthodox (Christians) we denounce racism as something contrary to the Gospel.  The good news is offered for the whole world, not just one group or ethnicity.  This was what was so powerful about Christ and His resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit of Pentecost - salvation was offered to the whole world. We are called to manifest this and the love of Christ for all people.

"If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen." - I John 4:20

"There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise." - Galatians 3:28-29

The Orthodox Church has formally condemned racism in a local council in Constantinople in 1872. It says, "We renounce, censure and condemn racism, that is racial discrimination, ethnic feuds, hatreds and dissensions within the Church of Christ, as contrary to the teaching of the Gospel and the holy canons of our blessed fathers which “support the holy Church and the entire Christian world, embellish it and lead it to divine godliness."

Here some links to the prayers I mentioned:

http://mosestheblack.org/resources/canon/

https://incommunion.org/prayers/

~sprink