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2 THE SHEPHERD • AUGUST 2026 • SAINT SPYRIDON GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH OF SAN DIEGO This past month, I attended the 48th Biennial Clergy-Laity Congress. The central theme of the Congress was “Rise and Build.” Metro- politan Savas of the Metropolis of Pittsburgh welcomed us to Cleveland and shared the “great pain of heart” he had felt stemming from the hard work put into preparing to host the 2020 Biennial Clergy-Laity Congress which was canceled at the last minute due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But he reminded us all of the direction from Scripture to rise when we fall. His message was a powerful re- minder of resilience and God’s grace during difficult times. His group didn’t lose heart and rallied to rise and host over 2,000 dele- gates, clergy, and laity at this Congress. Met- ropolitan Savas reminded us that we are all “living stones” who are being built together by God into a spiritual house (1 Peter 2:4-5). During the Congress, we were reminded that strengthening the Church and our par- ishes requires more than vision; Archbishop Elpidophoros emphasized that “It requires planning. It requires stewardship. It requires accountability. And above all, it requires that the people of God labor together with one heart and one purpose.” He encouraged us in our efforts to remember that “we are not gathered as opposing sides, but as fellow la- borers in the vineyard of Christ, united by our love for His Church and our desire to see it flourish for generations to come.” As we approach our centennial year, we each should reflect on our living stones and com- ing together in the vineyard of Christ to offer what each of us has been given. We should endeavor to labor together with one heart and one purpose. For we are often reminded that when we listen, pray, and deliberate to- gether, much can be accomplished. The prior generations of faithful laid a solid foundation for our community. While we reflect on the past, let us remember that our story is a liv- ing story that is still being written. Writing our future will require our collective actions to build on the legacy we’ve inherited. I pray that each of you will share your living stones as we write the next chapter and create new growth for the next 100 years. Many blessings, Jim Gilpin, Parish Council President FROM THE PARISH COUNCIL PRESIDENT Our Most Holy Theotokos’ Dormition is August 15th! Want to learn a bit more about Mary, the Birthgiver of God? From tradition it is known that Mary was the daughter of the aged Joachim and Anna, and that Joa- chim descended from the royal line of Da- vid, and Anna from the priestly line. Not- withstanding such a noble origin, they were poor. However, it was not that this saddened the righteous couple, but rather the fact that they did not have children and could not hope that their descendants would see the Messiah. They were disdained by the He- brews for their barrenness, but they contin- ued with grieving souls to offer up prayers to God- Joachim on a mountain, and Anna in her garden. One day an angel appeared to them and said they would bring forth a daughter. Overjoyed, they promised to con- secrate their child to God. Their child, Mary, manifested the best qualities of soul. When she was three years old, her parents, fulfilling their promise, solemnly led little Mary to the Temple of Jerusalem. She was led into the very Holy of Holies, by the High Priest who met her, taking with her the grace of God. Want to get to know the Mother of God bet- ter? Come see our bookstore selection on Our Most Holy Theotokos. Some books to look for are: Mary: As The Early Christians Knew Her, The Orthodox Veneration of Mary, or The Life of The Virgin Mary, The Theotokos. There are also children’s books about her life too, a popular one is: The Sto- ry of Mary: The Mother of God, by Dorrie Papademetriou. We also stock The Akathist Hymn to Our Most Holy Lady, the Mother of God which has remained throughout the centuries as the highest poetic expression of her veneration. Happy Summer! Stephanie Mourafetis, Mary Mastorakos, Francesca Captain, Hitomi Shue, and Kaylin Marino BOOKSTORE SWEET SUMMER SATURDAYS Our first meeting of the WOW Summer Book Club met on Saturday, June 27th. We had a lively discussion of the first of the three sections of Mother Siluana’s book, Theology of the Ordinary. We agreed that we could have spent hours talking about the many gems of wisdom we found there. Most of us said we had to stop ourselves from underlin- ing every sentence! In the first section of the book, Mother Si- luana teaches us important lessons about being attentive to God in even the smallest areas of our lives, by bringing each thought into the right hierarchy of our soul’s powers. Our nous , or our deepest heart is the high- est level of our lives where we encounter and are illuminated by the Holy Trinity. The sec- ond level is our soul where our thoughts and feelings can be nourished and made healthy by His love. The last level is our body, which when it is nourished by the soul rather than the appetites of life, itself becomes spiritual. By our awareness of God’s presence in every moment in our lives, we can make choices in our thoughts and actions that lead to joy and salvation. Our next meetings will be Saturday, July 25th, and Saturday, August 22nd, when we will examine each of the remaining two sec- tions of this remarkable book. Please join us even if you were unable to be with us at the first meeting! Also, please mark your calendars for our new year of Bible study beginning on Saturday, September 12. We will be delving into the scriptures that give light on the mystery of The Holy Spirit . We have all agreed that our one-Saturday-a-month format works very well for so many, young and old, and we look forward to robust attendance again in the au- tumn. Sign-ups begin in August! WOMEN WORD OF THE