Bishop Anthony

Hello Mid-Ohio Valley community and fellow parishioners. It is my pleasure and honor to announce that next Saturday, Oct. 25, we are expecting the Episcopal visitation of his Grace Archdiocesan Auxiliary Bishop Antony of Synada with 9 a.m. Orthos and 10 a.m. Hierarchical Divine Liturgy at St. James Greek Orthodox Church, 120 Maple St., off Washington Boulevard in Belpre. (Need to turn at Belpre Furniture store because Maple Street is one way in that block.) With a luncheon to follow, I guarantee it will be a feast for all!

We are so excited to welcome our bishop, and this is our chance to shine and all of us need to attend and welcome him with the dignity of his office and to let him know how blessed we are and at the same time to let him know how much we appreciate his Episcopal visitation and also to have Father Mark Elliott coming twice a week from Huntington to Parkersburg for Divine Liturgy.

Getting prepared for a wonderful celebration, it only happens every five years that we have a Bishop or Metropolitan to come to St. James Church.

So let’s get together to accomplish an unforgettable weekend and to build great memories for our St. James Greek Orthodox Church, our families and our community!

In Christ!

God Bless.

Kiki Angelos

Till next week.

***

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the highest office of the clergy is an episkopos, the Greek word meaning Overseer, and rendered “Bishop”.

The Eastern Orthodox Church remains fundamentally unchanged since the time that Our Savior Jesus Christ instituted His Great Commission in the Gospel of Matthew 28:18-20, calling the

Apostles at the mountain in Galilee to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you (NSRV).”

The work of these men, those original and closest followers of Our Lord, continued through the first Bishops of the Church, whom the Apostles handed down their authority to through the laying on of hands (ordination). Early on, the Bishop’s office included both sharing steadfastly the Apostles’ teaching, but also overseeing the orderly functioning of the Church. Bishops serve, as is said in Greek, eis topon kai typon Christou, that is, in place and as a type of Christ. This model continues today, with a Bishop administrating a diocese (a divided geographical area where churches are located). Bishops in the Orthodox Church are charged to safeguard and proclaim until Christ’s Glorious Second Coming, the continuance of the Apostolic Faith through doctrine and liturgical (that is, public worship) fullness. Ordained to be bishops’ representatives in parishes are the Presbyters (priests) and Deacon. Bishops, Presbyters and Deacons make up the three major orders of clergy in the Church.

Additionally, Auxiliary Bishops, hold the same office sacramentally but perform assistance to ruling bishops.

With the blessing of our Bishops, our parish embraces the apostolic charge to present the richness of our Ancient Faith to all, proclaiming through worship, word and action, the saving hope that is in Jesus Christ’s defeat of death itself and glorious Resurrection. We do this committed to being a beacon to all, regardless of ethnicity, religious background or socioeconomic status.

At St. James, we understand that our practices might seem foreign and exotic; still, we urge you to join us, and to see our faith in action; for as Prince Vladimir’s emissaries said after witnessing Orthodox Christian worship at Hagia Sophia (the Church of the Holy Wisdom in Constantinople) in the year 987, “we no longer knew whether we were in Heaven or on Earth”.

Reverend Father Mark Elliott is the Presiding Priest and Daniel Hess is Parish Council President who helped me prepare this article.

His Grace, Bishop Anthony (Vrame) of Synada is currently Director of Holy Cross Orthodox Press and Adjunct Associate Professor at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. He was born in Chicagol. He holds a bachelor of arts from DePaul University, a master of arts from the University of Chicago, a master’s of divinity from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology and a Ph.D. in religion and education from Boston College.

He has taught at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary and the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif. He was the director of the Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute at the Graduate Theological Union from 2002-2006. He was director of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America’s Department of Religious Education from 2007 to 2021.

As a scholar, he is the author of “The Educating Icon: Teaching Wisdom and Holiness in the Orthodox Way,” edited other books and published many articles and chapters in books on Orthodox Christian religious education and the history of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. He is active with many scholarly organizations, including the International Orthodox Theological Association, the Religious Education Association and the Orthodox Theological Society of America.

In 2016, he was ordained to the diaconate and priesthood, given the rank of Archimandrite in 2019 and Archimandrite of the Ecumenical Throne in 2022. He served the parish of the Nativity Assumption of the Theotokos in Cohasset, Mass., from 2019 until his election to the episcopacy. He was elected as Bishop of Synada by the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople on March 22, 2024. He was ordained on April 20, 2024.

***

Greek Salad

(SALATA)

1 small head lettuce

2 sprigs celery (including tops)

2 green onions, chopped

1 Small cucumber, sliced

1 tomato, sliced

1 small green pepper, cut in strips

Feta cheese cut in 6 cubes or crumbled

Kalamata black olives

Anchovy fillets (optional)

Break lettuce in small pieces. Place in salad bowl with celery, onions, cucumber, green pepper, and tomato. Pour only enough dressing over vegetables to lightly coat each piece. Garnish with cubes of feta cheese, anchovy fillets, and Kalamata olives.

***

Dressing

2/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup wine vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 clove garlic, crushed (optional)

1 teaspoon oregano

Put ingredients in jar, cover and shake well before using, makes 1 cup.

***

Broiled Flounder (Greek Recipe)

(Psari tis Skaras)

Flounder, 2 or 3 lbs

Clean and scale fish. Cut 3 or 4 gashes through skin. Prepare lemon marinade and pour over fish in shallow dish. Refrigerate 1 hour. Place on greased broiler pan, broil 5 inches from heat for 15 minutes or until easily flaked with fork. Turn and broil until skin is brown and crisp. Brush once or twice with marinade. (If fish is large, do not turn). Remove to large platter. Pour remaining marinated over fish .

LEMON MARINADE:

1/2 cup vegetable oil or olive oil

5 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon prepared mustard

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon oregano

Combine ingredients, beat lightly with fork. Variation: For anchovy dressing, add 2 teaspoons anchovy paste to lemon marinade, substitute chopped parsley for oregano.

***

Delectable Greek Pumpkin Cake

1/4 lb. butter

1/2 cup brown sugar packed

1 cup of sugar

2 eggs

2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup of buttermilk

3/4 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 cup chopped nuts

Butter two 8-inch cake pans and line bottoms with waxed paper. In a mixing bowl, cream butter, add sugar gradually and beat until fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, sift together, flour, baking powder, salt, soda, and spices. Add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk. Blend in pumpkin and nuts. Divide evenly into pans. Bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in pans for 5 minutes, then turn onto rack and cool completely. Frost and fill with brown butter frosting.

***

Brown Butter Frosting

1/4 lb. butter

1lb. confectioners sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

4-5 tablespoons light cream

In 1 quart saucepan, brown butter over low heat, stirring occasionally, until light amber in color . In a small mixing bowl, beat together butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla while gradually adding cream. Continue beating until smooth and of spreading consistency.