Sunday of Orthodoxy

Yesterday we had a wonderful Liturgical celebration here at St. Michael’s. As I mentioned in a previous post, His Eminence Archbishop Nicolae was in attendance at the church for a pastoral visit. We also took the occasion to honor two parishioners and he elevated me to the rank of Protopresbyter.

The first honoree was Mr. Alexandra Malisory. What a wonderful lady that always greets everyone with a simile. She turned 100 this past week and His Eminence was on had to say Happy Birthday. We gave her an Icon of St. Michael in honor of her years of service to the church. She says that toast and feta cheese in the morning kept her alive all these years. Her daughter told me a wonderful story about a phone call they received this past week. The local paper had done a profile of her and a man in his 60’s read the story to call and tell her what an inspiration she was to him. It seems this man had been in a funk for a few years and did not want to leave the house. He was sad because of his age and felt that his life was over, well at 100 she is still going. He read the story and it broke him right out of the funk, and he got out of his chair and will start living again. You never know who you will reach.

Next we really surprised Mr. Paul Porra. Paul is not only a parishioner but a good friend. Him and his wife Carol have really taken me in and we are, what I call, camping buddies. In fact we have a few camping trips planned already. We honored Paul for his years of service on the Parish Council as well as a delegate to our Archdiocese Congress. He is a very giving man who is always here at the church when we need something. He was given the Archdiocese Cross for Lay people, the highest award the Archdiocese can give to a layman.

Honoring people for the work they do is a wonderful thing, it is nice to recognize people and to honor them for their years of service. As our church struggles with the future direction it is important to remember and honor the past as we move into the future.