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1 THE SHEPHERD • MAY 2024 • SAINT SPYRIDON GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH OF SAN DIEGO FROM THE DESK OF FATHER ANDREW www.theshepherdnews.com The Shepherd Newsletter My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Christos Anesti! As you may have heard the city of San Diego has been chosen to be the host city for the 47th Greek Archdioc- esan Biennial Clergy/Laity Congress and the National Philoptochos Convention. The Congress and Convention will be held at the Sheraton Hotel and Marina. However, the Synodal Hierarchical Divine Liturgy that always opens these Biennial Archdiocesan events will take place here at Saint Spyridon GOC. This is a huge honor and blessing to have been chosen as the host parish that opens the Congress and Convention. To be sure, many of you have been to and have participated in a hierarchical Divine Liturgy here at our parish or elsewhere, but most, if not all of you have never been part of and/or participated in a Synodal Hierarchi- cal Divine Liturgy; including myself. I have never been to the opening divine services of a Clergy/Laity because, in all my years as a priest, I have always left the parish after serving the Sunday divine services of that/ our parish. This will truly be for many of us a once-in-a-lifetime Church event (especial- ly for our parish). The Synodal Hierarchical Divine Services will take place here on Sun- day, June 30, 2024. The Orthros/Preparatory Service will begin at 8:00 am followed by the Divine Liturgy at 9:30 am. A Synod is typically a gathering of ecclesias- tical clergy and more specifically a gathering of Hierarchs/Bishops/Metropolitans. In the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, we have nine hierarchs (including the Arch- bishop of America) who make up the Ep- archial Synod and gather in New York City when they meet officially to discuss matters facing the Church here in America. Each of our Metropolitans serves different geograph- ical areas of the United States and are collec- tively called Eparchial because they report to the Mother Church in Istanbul, Turkey/ Constantinople under the spiritual direction of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. When they gather ecclesiastically to serve the Divine Liturgy that Liturgy is called a Syn- odal Hierarchical Liturgy and it is something special to be part of and witness. This gathering of the Bishops is Biblically sound and part of our Holy Tradition. There are many Biblical references concerning gathering and I will offer just a few for your review: Matt. 18:20; Acts 14:27; Rev. 4:4. The “twenty-four elders” gathering around the throne/altar table fromRev. 4:4 is interpreted by the Church to represent the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve Apostles (the first Bishops). From our Holy Tradition found outside the New Testament from a text called The Didache written between the years 70- 135 AD by the Early Apostolic Fathers there are many, many references to the gathering, etc. of the Bishops. Thus, when the Synod of Bishops gather to celebrate a Synodal Hierar- chal Divine Liturgy we participate in some- thing that is part of our ancient Tradition and is an opportunity to seriously consider. As you may have also recently noticed, there are a lot of repairs, refurbishing, and resto- ration taking place on the grounds of our parish complex. Indeed, this recent energy, time, and effort, were motivated by the thou- sands of Congress and Convention delegates and their families who will be visiting the city of San Diego and some will be coming to our parish for the opening divine ser- vices on Sunday, June 30th. However, our motivation is also from just plain need. We have deferred the maintenance of our church The Shepherd The official newsletter publication for the parish of Saint Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church of San Diego I S S U E 3 3 6 • MAY 2 0 2 4 continues 11 IN THIS ISSUE FR. ANDREW ............................................. p. 1 PRESIDENT OF THE PARISH COUNCIL, WOMEN OF THE WORD .......................... p. 2 NEWS FROM THE LOFT, DIVINE SERVICES, HOLY SACRAMENTS, MEMORIALS, DEATHS .......................................................p. 3 YOUTH MINISTRIES ................................. p. 4 COOKING & BAKING SCHEDULE, GREEK LANGUAGE SCHOOL ................ p. 7 PHILOPTOCHOS NEWS, STEWARDSHIP COMMITTEE .............................................. p. 8 AHEPA, YOUNG AT HEART .................... p. 9 PARISH CALENDAR ................................. p. 10 BOOKSTORE .............................................. p. 11 CONTACT INFORMATION....................... p. 12 ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN!