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Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church 3109 Scio Church Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48103 Telephone (734) 332-8200 Fax: (734) 332-8201 web: www.stnickaa.org e-mail: Church Office (office@stnickaa.org) |
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Tom Cladis, Orthodox Observer DENVER – Eighteen Greek Orthodox speakers gathered on June 6 at St. Catherine Church in Greenwood Village for finals of the 20th annual St. John Chrysostom National Oratorical Festival, hosted by St. Catherine Church, with the assistance of the Denver Assumption Cathedral. The St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival is a program of the Department of Religious Education, under the direction of Rev. Dr. Frank Marangos, providing teenagers the opportunity to examine their faith and the platform from which to share their good news. Since the Festival’s inception, Fr. John Orfanakos and Presbytera Margaret Orfanakos have served as Archdiocese cochairmen. They were unable to attend this year’s event, however, due to illness. This year’s theme was Orthopraxia: The Life of the Church, and contestants in both the Junior and Senior Divisions chose from six related topics on which to speak. Each of the nine metropolises was represented by one Junior Division finalist (grades 7 - 9) and by one Senior Division finalist (grades 10 - 12), who had earned their place at the Mile High City by winning as many as three prior competitions - at the parish, regional and metropolis levels. They arrived from states across the nation - New York, New Jersey, Maine, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Florida, Illinois, Tennessee, Texas, Michigan, Utah and California - united in their Orthodox faith, and when finally they came together for the first time under the same roof on Friday evening, one could sense how very special the weekend would be. The evening’s festivities began with a Paraklesis service in the new Metropolis of Denver Center, and continued with a dinner for the finalists and their families next door at the Assumption Cathedral. After dinner, the 18 contestants gathered for an icebreaker among themselves in the Cathedral library. The St. Catherine youth director presided, and he was amazed at how quickly the young people bonded. Larissa Newman, the Senior Division finalist from the New Jersey Metropolis, wrote to him afterwards, “I can’t express how much fun I had in Denver, and how much I really learned. From the time I got there to the time I left, I was so inspired! The first night in that room with just you and the finalists, the icebreaker, was one of my favorite parts. I think we were all able to relate to each other, and realize that we were all on the same level, and the festival wasn’t even really about scholarships or placing. It was about meeting new people, having a good time, and sharing… with each other.” Their inhibitions discarded the finalists then participated in a lively question- and-answer hour with His Eminence, Metropolitan Isaiah of Denver, before returning to the hotel - and to the hospitality suite - at the conclusion of the evening. By midnight, everyone had retired, weary of travel, yet excited for the Festival the next morning. Eight hours later, the finalists were rested, polished, and enjoying a pre-Festival continental breakfast at St. Catherine’s. The Festival took place at 10 a.m. and everyone emerged as a winner, for, in striving to do their very best, these young men and women delved deeply into their spirituality and, in doing so, were drawn closer to God. Those privileged to hear such eloquent witness to Orthodoxy from the future leaders of our Church also won, inspired by the poise, presence and passion of the eighteen presenters. Fr. Frank announced the judges’ decisions during the awards luncheon in St. Catherine’s newly built gymnasium. In the Junior Division, Constance Taras (Detroit Metropolis, Holy Trinity Church, Nashville, Tenn.) garnered first place honors and a $2,000 college scholarship. Emily Sherman (Boston Metropolis, Annunciation Church, Cranston, R.I.) was awarded second-place and a $1,500 college scholarship, and Mary Royal (Denver Metropolis, Holy Trinity Church, Salt Lake City) earned third-place honors and a $1,000 college scholarship. Receiving honorable mention and $500 United States Savings Bonds were Amanda Efthimiou (Archdiocesan District, St. Paul Cathedral, Hempstead, NY), Konstantine Lagos (Atlanta Metropolis, Holy Trinity Church, Clearwater, Fla.), Joseph Dean Kott (Chicago Metropolis, St. Sophia Church, Elgin, Ill.), Athina Moustakis (New Jersey Metropolis, St. George Church, Clifton, N.J.), Constance Stamoolis (Pittsburgh Metropolis, St. Nicholas Cathedral, Pittsburgh), and Darius Aram (San Francisco Metropolis, Sts. Constantine and Helen Church, Cardiff-by-the-Sea, Calif.). In the Senior Division, Nicholas Moniodis (Detroit Metropolis, St. Nicholas Church, Ann Arbor, Mich.) was awarded first-place and a $2,000 college scholarship, second-place and a $1,500 college scholar ship went to Larissa Newman (Sts. Peter and Paul Church, Frederick, Md.), and Jonathan Dolan (Denver Metropolis, St. Sophia Church, San Antonio) received third-place recognition and a $1,000 college scholarship. Rounding out the division with Honorable Mention accolades and $500 U.S. Savings Bonds were Andrew Pastrikos (Archdiocesan District, Kimisis Tis Theotokou Church, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.), Christina Lagos (Atlanta Metropolis, Holy Trinity Church, Clearwater, Fla.), Peter Anestis (Boston Metropolis, Annunciation Church, Dover, N.H.), John Robert Schieber (Chicago Metropolis, Holy Apostles Church, Westchester, Ill.), Sophia Williard (Pittsburgh Metropolis, Holy Trinity Church, Pittsburgh), and Maria Koo (San Francisco Metropolis, Annunciation Church, Sacramento, Calif.). Besides marking the 20th anniversary of the Oratorical Festival, this year’s event was notable for another reason: It was the first time ever that a brother and sister both participated in the national finals of the same year. Special congratulations go out to the family of Christina and Konstantin Lagos from Clearwater, Florida.
With the
Festival behind them, the finalists went back to their hotel, undid their
neckties, kicked off their high heels, donned their blue jeans and cowboy
hats, and saddled up for a late afternoon trail ride and steak fry cookout
in beautiful Estes Park, Colo. The excitement of the trail ride carried all the way back to the hotel and into the hospitality suite, where the finalists continued the Old West tradition of whooping it up in the big city on Saturday night. Although the music was loud, the voices were louder, and spirits were high, as everyone signed each other’s cowboy hats and exchanged addresses and phone numbers. All too soon, the clock struck 12 on the 2003 St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival. There were final goodbyes and hugs - and a hierarchical liturgy on Sunday morning at St. Catherine’s that led into the grand opening of the church’s new facility, home to its administration offices, classrooms and gymnasium. In all, the Festival lasted less than 48 hours, but the memories would last a lifetime. The committee included Chairman Deacon Evan Armatas (St. Catherine’s), Father Louis J. Christopulos (St. Catherine’s), DeVonna Cavos (Assumption Cathedral), Tom Cladis (St. Catherine’s), Paula Demos (Assumption Cathedral), Katherine Jimroglou (St. Catherine’s), Suzanne Magerko (St. Catherine’s), Nancy Maniatis (Assumption Cathedral), Kathryn White (St. Catherine’s) and Deacon Paul Zaharas (Metropolis of Denver).
Your Eminence Archbishop
Demetrios, Your Eminence Metropolitan Isaiah, Reverend Fathers, Honorable
Judges, Fellow Speakers, Ladies and Gentlemen, “Little lamb, little lamb, who made thee?” Thus begins a well-known children’s poem. Until recently, the answer to this poem’s question was clear. It was made by God in accordance with his plan. But science has brought us new genetic technologies, in particular the cloning of the lamb named Dolly, and suddenly the answer as to who made the lamb is not so clear. Many of us were taken by surprise by cloning. We hear on the news about panels of “ethicists” who tell us that we should not worry. But Orthodoxy has its own assessment of the dangers. From its earliest days, Orthodoxy has valued science, and particularly medicine, holding, for example, St. Luke to have been a physician, and among our most glorified saints are Cosmas and Damian, two physicians. The epitome of the Orthodox view of medicine is given by St. Basil the Great when he says, “...the medical art is given to us by God... it adds to the glory of God, and when carefully employed, it parallels the care given to the soul.” Orthodoxy has never passed through a Reformation or an Age of Skepticism as in the West. It does not pit faith against science, but places science in a moral context. This makes it essential for Orthodoxy to speak out spiritually, theologically, morally, on cloning. Cloning comes from the Greek word, clao, meaning to “break off a piece of something.” In plants, for example, it would involve breaking off a branch, and growing a new plant from that branch. In human cloning, it involves taking a cell, any cell, and through genetic manipulation, growing a new person. Someone thus born is not begotten of a mother and a father. Cloning represents a particular modern view of mankind that is antithetical to Orthodoxy in a number of ways: First, Christ came in humility to serve, not to be served. Cloning is a means whereby individuals indulge their lust for themselves-wanting not children who are their own selves, but copies of themselves. The ultimate narcissism. Secondly, we know that God made all creation “male and female.” St. Maximos the Confessor tells us that the creation of sexes is a partial remedy to the Fall. After the Fall, it was no longer natural for us to love our neighbor. Rather, it is “Survival of the fittest,” in Darwinian terms. But, lest all humanity turn towards isolation and individualism, He gave us desire for a mate - the desire to form a couple. And, by loving our one mate, we can, in part, re-establish the love that all mankind was to have for one another. Thirdly, the scientist who cloned the lamb Dolly, Dr. Ian Wilmut, chose a lamb to be the first cloned animal because, he says, “this Lamb came to being without seed, just like, ‘He who calls Himself a Lamb.’” That is Christ. Wilmut is wrong when he compares the lamb he made with the conception of Christ. Christ was not a clone of Mary. If he were he would have been a woman, identical to Mary. But Christ was a Man - a unique, singular, individual in all humanity. Cloning is a vulgar counterfeit of Christ’s conception. There is yet another, more dangerous transgression of the Orthodox Christian faith. The Holy Fathers tell us that the Anti-Christ will be a fraud and counterfeit of Christ. St. Nilus, the disciple of St. John Chrysostom, says that he will be “born of a seed not sown by man.” But exactly how, they could not say. We now have the answer. A clone is unbegotten of human parents; it is not of human seed. Our Savior was Begotten of the Holy Spirit, not of inhuman science. This will be the most vile and evil kind of mockery. But modern society, in its self-interest, remains oblivious to these dangers. And we, as part of this technologically bewildering society, can expect no moral guidance from it. Where is one to turn? I find refuge in the faith of Orthodoxy, and especially in its spokesmen, the Holy Fathers, who are a guiding light that direct us to the safe harbor of salvation. Please also visit: http://www.goarch.org/en/archdiocese/departments/religioused/oratorical/
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