Sunday, December 5

Fr. Basil Zebrun 

(Portions of the following article were taken from Fr. Thomas Hopko’s Orthodox Faith Series, Worship, Volume 2, published by the Orthodox Church in America’s Department of Christian Education, and from These Truths We Hold, published by St. Tikhon’s Seminary Press).

INTRODUCTION:

This year our community is transferring the Feast of St. Barbara to Sunday, December 5. In honor of our Patronal Feast we will be blessed with a pastoral visit by His Grace Gerasim, Bishop of Ft. Worth.  Anticipating this event, I would like to review – once again – basic protocol, how to conduct oneself personally and liturgically in the presence of a hierarch.  An expanded version of these fundamentals is located in the Church’s vestibule.     

WHAT WE SEE AND DO WHEN THE BISHOP ARRIVES:     

It is indeed, a very special occasion when a bishop comes to visit, although as far as Bishop Gerasim is concerned we probably should not use the word visit, since Ft. Worth is his Episcopal See. We will not greet him as an outside, foreign dignitary, but rather as a father in Christ, coming to be with his children. The same thinking, the same experience would apply when greeting Archbishop Alexander.

The faithful will greet His Grace Gerasim on December 5 at 9:30 am, at the front doors of the Church. It is proper that people gather early, awaiting the arrival of the bishop and not the other way around. We ask that everyone be in Church prior to the greeting:  9:15 or 9:20 am would be good.  Those with food for the reception should arrive a bit earlier if possible. People may also congregate in the hall to take photos.  As the greeting and procession gets under way, the faithful located in the hall should walk behind the bishop and clergy into the Church, and then remain in place for the vesting and/or the reading of the Hours, as well as for the Liturgy proper.

When the bishop enters the building, he will be met with both bread and salt, as well as a bouquet of flowers. These gifts are offered as signs of love, respect and hospitality. Throughout the service the choir and faithful will sing, multiple times in Greek, Eis Polla Eti Despota! “Many years to you, Master.” A more extended version will also be sung, translated: “Preserve O Lord, our Master and Bishop: Many years to you, Master.”

GREETING THE BISHOP PERSONALLY: 

When greeting the bishop personally – at coffee hour for example – before any formal conversation takes place, it is traditional to extend both hands for a blessing (right hand in the left), accompanying this gesture with the words, Master bless. The bishop will make the sign of the Cross, lay his hand in ours. We then kiss his hand.

Since Bishop Gerasim is (let’s say) a “regular” hierarch and not an Archbishop, when speaking to him directly one refers to him as, Your Grace. If speaking about him to someone else, one refers to him as, His Grace, or as, Bishop Gerasim.  One would begin speaking to an Archbishop, however, with the words, Your Eminence; a Metropolitan, Your Beatitude. 

Customarily, when receiving a hierarch into their midst, Orthodox Christians in America today maintain a balance between formalities, and experiencing the bishop as a father in Christ who desires to maintain a loving relationship with his flock.  We offer great respect and proper protocol.  We do so, though, with love, knowing that His Grace is “one of us;” together we strive to, “work out our salvation with fear and trembling,” as told to us by St. Paul.

With these things in mind, we look forward to Bishop Gerasim’s visit for the Feast of St. Barbara and to future visits by His Grace.