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Protocols
2001
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Protocol 01-01 Very Reverend and Reverend Clergy The Esteemed Parish Councils Beloved in the Lord, As we reflect on our Christ-centered responsibilities to return to the church of the living God a fair portion of our blessings through the national commitment program, I am pleased to say that at least thirty-five of our forty-nine parishes have fully responded to that commitment. These funds help to operate our Diocese office as well as give vital assistance to our Seminary, Hellenic College and Holy Cross School of Theology, among the various Archdiocesan ministries. In order for our Diocese to receive a larger percentage of this stewardship giving, it is necessary for the nine parishes in the Diocese who have an unpaid balance to begin to lower that balance incrementally. Such an effort will visibly affirm that those parishes recognize themselves as a vital part of the Diocese and, like the other parishes, continue to show their love and commitment to the Diocese which guarantees priestly assignments and other services. In order for the parishes to be able to adequately respond to their commitments, it is necessary that all councils have standing membership/stewardship committees which will have special annual programs to increase the yearly membership commitment of each member towards his or her own parish. The average annual membership contribution of each parish member should not be less than three dollars per day, or at least one thousand dollars per year. Moreover, through the priest and the council members, everyone should be convinced that an offering candle is a prayer, and even ten dollars per candle can never be excessive for a loved one, a special request, or an expression of gratitude for blessings received. May this new year bring many blessings from God our Savior to all which will more easily convince us of our responsibility to Him and to His holy Church. And may those blessings bring stronger faith and joy to all the faithful members of the holy Diocese of Denver. With Paternal Blessings, + Metropolitan Isaiah Presiding Hierarch of the Diocese of Denver Protocol 01-02 The Pious Priests and Deacons of the Holy Diocese of Denver, As the season of Holy and Great Lent approaches, many pastors are beginning to prepare their schedules for the various special services and commemorations. To assist you in your planning I am pleased to provide you with the following guidelines. First, the Divine Liturgy and Memorial Service should be scheduled on the three Saturdays of the Souls (February 17, February 24, and March 3, 2001). Second, on the First and Third Sundays in Great Lent the appropriate processions should be observed. The Procession with the Holy Icons normally takes place at the end of the Divine Liturgy on the Sunday of Orthodoxy; it may also be held later on Sunday afternoon at Vespers when this is celebrated in the city as a Pan-Orthodox service. The Veneration of the Holy Cross on the Third Sunday of Great Lent, although specified to take place at the end of Orthros, is held at the end of the Divine Liturgy when a majority of the congregation is present. Third, to increase participation in the liturgical cycle which has as its purpose the sanctification of time and of our temporal lives, all parishes throughout the Denver Diocese should, as a minimum, offer the following services during Great Lent:
Fourth, the Presanctified Liturgy is celebrated on Friday, March 9 to commemorate the Feast of the Forty Holy Martyrs. Fifth, since Holy Week services are the most important and compunctionate, pastors in all parishes should as a minimum schedule the following services:
Sixth, in order to standardize the liturgical services in parishes throughout the Diocese, it would be best to utilize the Holy Week-Easter service book prepared by Protopresbyter George Papadeas which has been widely used and accepted throughout our parishes for many years and which most of our laity possess. Although other translations have been prepared by various compilers and editors, the translation prepared by Father Papadeas is most faithful to the original language, although there are typographical errors in the text, as well as syntactical difficulties. Nevertheless, you should possess the other Holy Week translations for your personal use. Since the Orthros of Holy Thursday is not in the Holy Week-Easter service book by Father Papadeas, the booklet published by Father Evagoras Constantinides specifically for this Service should be used. Alternatively, the English text from the Lenten Triodion by Mother Mary and Archimandrite (now Bishop) Kallistos Ware published by Faber and Faber may be used. Both are available through the Holy Cross Bookstore in Brookline. Additionally, keep in mind that these services should not be abbreviated, but should be served in their entirety. If chanters and choirs are unfamiliar with some hymns, they can be read or intoned in plain chant as appropriate, but must not be eliminated. Seventh, please note that the Divine Liturgies on Holy Thursday and Holy Saturday may be scheduled at the regular time for a morning Liturgy (usually 9:00 or 10:00 AM). This way more people and the children will be able to participate. Although it may be argued that our faithful must work or attend school, we should be honest and acknowledge that the schools, businesses, and even Government agencies allow persons of other faiths, such as Jews and Moslems, to take time off for their high holy days. In this country which protects freedom of religion we must insist on our right to observe our most sacred holy days. In addition, parishioners should be advised that Holy Communion is given during the Liturgy at the customary place and time — not before, or after, or "throughout the day," especially on Holy Thursday and Holy Saturday. The Holy Gifts must be consumed immediately following the Divine Liturgy, and not kept for "latecomers." The Body and Blood of our Lord is given to those who have prepared themselves to receive Communion; it is not distributed as though it were "fast food" where people run into the church, "take their Communion," and run back to their mundane concerns. Eighth, keep in mind that no Memorial or Trisagion Services are permitted between the Saturday of Lazarus and the Sunday of Saint Thomas, inclusively. Marriages are not celebrated during Great Lent and Holy Week; their celebration resumes after the Sunday of Pascha. Ninth, during the period the Great Fast, beginning on Clean Monday, pastors should schedule times for the Mystery of Holy Repentance for the benefit of the people. An excellent time for this is before or after Saturday evening Vespers and before or after the Sunday Vespers on the five Sunday evenings. Times for confession should also be scheduled after each of the Great Compline Services on all Mondays of the Fast. Sadly, the Mystery of Holy Repentance has become a "forgotten sacrament" among our faithful, often because they do not know what confession entails, or even what one does in confession. In addition to scheduling times for confession, I ask the pastors to offer clear and thorough instruction from the pulpit, in your periodic mailings, and in Bible study/inquiry classes regarding this important Mystery. Finally, a few comments are in order regarding fasting and March 25th celebrations. During the Great Fast parishes may not sponsor meals at which meat is served, nor festal celebrations at which there is drinking or dancing. This holds true on March 25th as well, although fish is allowed on that day since — just like Palm Sunday — it is one of the twelve great and holy feasts. Unfortunately, the few who celebrate Greek Independence day (March 25) with feasting and dancing ignore the solemnity of the Feast of the Annunciation to the Theotokos and violate the discipline of the Great Fast. Perhaps, unbeknown to many in America, such celebrations also neglect the pious and long-standing tradition in Greece of commemorating their national sovereignty which was proclaimed auspiciously on the Day of the Annunciation, symbolizing the freedom of the Greek people from centuries of foreign subjugation, with church services, parades and patriotic lectures, but not with dancing and feasting, since the Greek people always respected the solemnity of the Feast of the Annunciation, the Great Fast, and Greek Independence. In regard to dances scheduled for celebration of Greek Independence Day here in the United States, I am convinced that most people do so to have a good time and not because they have legitimate patriotic feelings for Greece. The past few years I have sent you a translation of the Paschal homily of Saint John Chrysostom. This is the only version of the homily that is to be read in all parishes of the Diocese at the appropriate place during the Resurrection Liturgy instead of any others you may have found in the various Holy Week service books. If the Paschal homily is read in Greek at the traditional part of the Divine Liturgy where the people respond — just before the Dismissal — then it should also be read in English as a sermon immediately following the Gospel reading of the Divine Liturgy. The homily was printed in two colors and laminated so that you could save it as a permanent copy. Please feel free to duplicate this translation in your parishes as necessary. Additional copies may be requested from the Diocese Office. Through these additional services and schedules, the priests and deacons will also benefit by entering more easily into the spirit of the Lenten season. It is of utmost importance for the priests and the deacons to remember that the additional services and sacraments of this most holy period greatly benefit the clergy as well as the laity. Even if few, or even none, of the laity attend a service, your prayers in the services are on their behalf and for their spiritual well-being. Do not be discouraged, but rejoice in worshipping God Whom we are privileged to serve as His priests. May this coming Great Lent bring many spiritual benefits to all the clergy and the laity of this holy Diocese. With Paternal Blessings, + Metropolitan Isaiah Presiding Hierarch of the Diocese of Denver Protocol 01-03 Parish Pastors The Esteemed Parish Council Members Beloved in the Lord, For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own free will, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints." (2 Corinthians 8:3-4) It is evident that even in the beginning years of the Christian Church the faithful were eager to participate in contributing toward the welfare of the whole Church. This enthusiasm to support the work of the Church has always been a hallmark of Orthodox Christians, and it continues to this day in the form of individual stewardship to the local parish and in parish Total Commitment to the national ministries of our Church in America. As evidence of this generous spirit, I am very pleased to report to you that 16% of the parishes in this Diocese attained the 15% Total Commitment goal in 2000, and that 20% thus far have attained this goal in 2001. Moreover, more than one half of our parishes are contributing over 10% of their annual income as their Total Commitment toward national ministries which includes this Diocese. I am encouraged that these figures are indicative of the fact that our parishes do not consider themselves isolated outposts in these western states, but rather as individual cells that are fully integrated into the Body of Christ, as vital members of our Holy Orthodox Church. This level of accomplishment also shows that the "one percentage point per year" increase in overall Total Commitment, which allows a parish to reach the 15% goal in a reasonable and manageable manner, has been successfully implemented through the leadership of our parish priests and the dedicated efforts of their parish councils. As you recall, in my Protocol letters 99-04 and 99-15 during the year 1999, as well as in my Protocol letter 00-08 dated March 9, 2000, I asked you to implement the following schedule which will apply annually:
It should be noted that in every budget there are certain "givens," or "fixed costs," which are not debated by the General Assembly, but which the parish is obligated to remit. Such items include a monthly mortgage payment, utility costs, the clergy compensation package, and the Total Commitment allocation. These budget items obviously cannot be lowered by the General Assembly, but are costs incurred as a normal part of running a parish. In this regard, the Total Commitment allocation for the following year is simply computed once the financial statement for the previous year is completed. In other words, the 2002 Total Commitment amount is a percentage of your 2000 parish income. That percentage must be 15%, or at least one percentage point more than the percentage used to calculate your 2001 Total Commitment. I am therefore asking you at this time to forward to my office by May 1, 2001, (a) the Declaration concerning your 2001 and 2002 Total Commitments, and (b) your 2000 Financial Report which has been reviewed by the Audit Committee. Please use the formats enclosed--(a) the Declaration Transmittal Form, and (b) the Format for Preparing the Financial Statement, the Parish Balance Sheet, and the Parish Total Commitment Calculation--which must be signed by the Priest along with the Parish Council President and the Parish Council Treasurer. You should also retain a copy of these forms which you are submitting, because they will be forwarded to the Diocese Office again as part of your autumn election package. With Paternal Blessings, + Metropolitan Isaiah Presiding Hierarch of the Diocese of Denver Enclosures (2) Enclosure Total Commitment Declaration Transmittal Form for The Greek Orthodox Church of: ______________________________________ in _____________________________, _____________. We, the undersigned Parish Priest, Parish Council President, and Parish Council Treasurer, do hereby verify that the attached 2000 Financial Statement of our parish accurately represents the total financial status of the parish for the year 2000. We acknowledge the responsibility of the Parish Council, under the leadership of the Priest, to establish a stewardship program, and to appoint a stewardship committee to implement and expand the stewardship program of the Parish. We also acknowledge the responsibility of the Parish Council to collect the revenue of the Parish, issuing receipts thereof and paying by check the salaries of the Parish personnel, Parish expenses, budgetary grants-in-aid for the Parish educational and philanthropic organizations and such sums as may be fixed by the Clergy-Laity Congresses for the support of the Archdiocese.
a. If two or more Priests are assigned to the Parish, the contribution to the Archdiocese Pension Plan will be $3,480 per annum per clergyman. We also acknowledge that all Parish moneys and funds are held in trust by the Parish Council on behalf of the Parish membership. No Parish funds are maintained in any account other than those established by the Parish Council and administered by the Parish Council through the duly elected Parish Council Treasurer. We verify that the overall amount of our annual 2001 Total Commitment allocation is $_____ (payable in twelve monthly installments of $______ each) which represents ___% of our total net income during the period 1 January 1999 through 31 December 1999, which was $______. We also verify that the overall amount of our 2002 Total Commitment allocation is $______ (payable in twelve monthly installments of $______ each) which represents ___% of our total net income during the period 1 January 2000 through 31 December 2000 as reflected on the attached 2000 Financial Statement, which was $______. (Date) (Priest) (Parish Council President) (Parish Council Treasurer) Enclosure (2000 Parish Financial Statement) Format for preparing The Parish Financial Statement, the Parish Balance Sheet, and the Parish Total Commitment Calculation Parish Financial Statement The Parish financial statement shall indicate the following: · Income:
· Expenses:
Parish Balance Sheet The Parish balance sheet shall indicate the following: · Assets:
· Liabilities:
· Capitalization:
Total Commitment Calculation The Parish Total Commitment Calculation shall indicate the following: · Total Income from All Sources (Gross Income):
· Total Income Exempted from Total Commitment Calculation (Exempt Income):
· Adjusted Income:
· Total Commitment:
Protocol 01-04 The Parish Priests, the Choir Director, and the Chanters Beloved in the Lord, During the past few years, in my pastoral visits to the parishes, I have noticed that at the Salutation Services of Great Lent a number of you have been using English translations of the Kontakion, Ti Ypermacho. In the past several months I have collected a total of six different translations of the hymn from various sources. Because of the contradictions and differences from one translation to another, I committed myself to produce the best available and most correct translation which would be faithful to the original. Enclosed is a copy of that translation. If you plan to have the hymn sung in English, consider this translation the official one of this Diocese. Those of you who are musically literate will have no trouble applying the traditional tune to the English words, if the enclosed rendition is different than what you know. Hopefully, this additional work will bring about the necessary uniformity that all our parishes should have one day soon regarding all our services. With Paternal Blessings, + Metropolitan Isaiah Presiding Hierarch of the Diocese of Denver Protocol 01-05 The Pious Priests and Deacons of the Holy Diocese of Denver Beloved in the Lord, You recently received a letter from the Very Reverend Archimandrite Savas Zembillas, the Chancellor of our holy Archdiocese, requesting that you complete and submit to his office an updated Clergy Record Form. I encourage you to comply with his request, and I also ask that you send a copy of the Clergy Record Form to the Diocesan Office for your file. In case you already sent off your Clergy Record Form to the Archdiocese and did not keep a copy for yourself, I am enclosing another blank form for you. With Paternal Blessings, + Metropolitan Isaiah Presiding Hierarch of the Diocese of Denver Protocol 01-06 The Reverend Clergy, and the Pious Faithful of the Holy Diocese of Denver, Beloved in the Lord, I am most pleased to announce that the commencement of construction on the Diocese Center, for which all of you have worked so diligently to bring to reality, is imminent. The construction schedule of our contractor, PCL Construction Services Inc., indicates that earth moving equipment will begin to prepare the ground for the foundation of the building in late May. Accordingly, it is my pleasure to announce to you that the official ground-breaking will take place on Saturday, May 19, 2001. I invite all of you to attend, and to celebrate this historic occasion in the life of the Diocese of Denver, and our Church in America. The program will begin at eleven in the morning and will be followed by a reception and appropriate refreshments. May our merciful Lord grant to you and your family a most-blessed Holy Week and celebration of Pascha. With Paternal Blessings, + Metropolitan Isaiah Presiding Hierarch of the Diocese of Denver Protocol 01-07 The Pious Pastors, and The Esteemed Parish Councils of the Holy Diocese of Denver Beloved in the Lord, The weekend of the Diocese Clergy-Laity Assembly and the Diocese Philoptochos Conference is quickly approaching. All priests are expected to attend the fellowship and retreat on Wednesday evening and throughout the day on Thursday, April 25 and 26, 2001. An extremely important presentation on bio-ethics, which has become an important pastoral and moral issue for our holy Church, will be presented. The parish councils are expected to send two delegates who can also be eligible as candidates for the new 2001 and 2002 Diocese Council. Present members of the Diocese Council can be delegates from their parishes. The upcoming Diocese Clergy-Laity Assembly which is being held on Friday, April 27, 2001 and Saturday April 28, 2001 will take place at the Annunciation Cathedral in Houston, Texas. Hopefully the designated delegates have procured their hotel reservations. The focus of the Assembly will be the Diocese Office Center which is scheduled to be under construction by the end of May. Reports will be given regarding all facets of the Diocese Office Center which will become the most significant building of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese between Chicago and San Francisco. Let all our people, clergy and laity, come together two weeks after Pascha to commit ourselves and one another to Christ our God as we make final preparations for the Diocese Center. With Paternal Blessings, + Metropolitan Isaiah Presiding Hierarch of the Diocese of Denver Protocol 01-08 When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth? ( Luke 18:8) The Devout Clergy, Monastics, and The Faithful Members of The Holy Diocese of Denver Beloved in the Lord, As we arrive once again at the heart and reason for the Paschal celebration, the life-giving Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, we are also witnessing the beginning of the end of this age. The world is going forth once more to what already occurred thousands of years ago. Mankind is about to approach the days of Noah and especially the unfinished city of Babel wherein man progressed to unimaginable heights. Already in our time we have seen the successful cloning of a variety of animals, as well as the production of body parts from aborted human embryos. And now "nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do." (Genesis 11:6) In the face of ever-increasing phenomenal accomplishments by the technological, scientific, and medical world our eyes are beginning to see man's greatly increasing faith in himself while less and less faith in God as Creator is apparent. Even so, the people of God will continue to be His little flock (Luke 12:32) until the Lord returns. Let us, then, continue to stand firm and to proclaim the Lord's glorious and victorious Resurrection to all, and reach out to those who are being saved. The people of God rejoice in beholding the empty Tomb. All who seek God's unchanging truth find it in Him Who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Christ Is Risen! XPICTOC ANECTH! With Paschal Blessings, + Metropolitan Isaiah Presiding Hierarch of the Diocese of Denver Protocol 01-09 Beloved in the Lord, Christ is Risen! In my Protocol 01/03, dated February 8, 2001, I asked that you forward to my office by May 1, 2001, the following items:
I therefore ask that you forward the Declaration and the 2000 Financial Report as soon as possible to me at the Diocesan Office. Once I receive these, I will forward a copy of your 2000 financial statement to the Archdiocese certifying your 2002 Total Commitment allocation amount. The annual procedures for this process are clearly delineated in my Protocol 01/03, as they were in my Protocol letters 99-04 and 99-15 during the year 1999, as well as in my Protocol letter 00-08 dated March 9, 2000. There should therefore be no reason for confusion or misunderstanding at this point. In case the enclosures I sent to you on February 8, 2001 have been lost or misplaced, I am enclosing copies for your use. Finally, please note that the same Declaration you are sending to me at this time will be included as part of your election package this autumn. May the Lord give each of you His grace and strength as you continue to serve Him in the special ministry of service on the Parish Council. With Paternal Blessings in the Risen Lord, + Metropolitan Isaiah Presiding Hierarch of the Diocese of Denver Protocol 01-10 The Pious Priests and Deacons, and The Esteemed Parish Council Members of the Holy Diocese of Denver Beloved in the Lord, Christ is Risen! I am very pleased to inform you that we concluded a most-productive and spiritually beneficial Clergy Retreat and Clergy-Laity Assembly which was held in Houston, Texas from April 26 through 29, 2001 in conjunction with the Diocese Philoptochos Convention. Those who attended were in agreement that the opportunity for worship, for fellowship, for exchange of valuable information and insight regarding parish life was uplifting, encouraging, and most worthwhile. It is therefore with profound dismay that I must unavoidably reflect with sadness that fewer than half of our clergy attended the retreat and Assembly, and that likewise less than half of our parishes were represented at the Assembly. The clergy retreats and the Diocesan clergy-laity assemblies are not simply recurrent events affecting the diocesan administration, but rather they are vital spiritual milestones in the individual lives of the priests and deacons and in the community life of each parish. Each person is a Christian, not in isolation, but through integration into the Body of Christ by virtue of Baptism and a living relationship with the risen Lord. In exactly the same way each priest and deacon exercises the priesthood in union with his hierarch and his fellow clergy in an integral and active manner. Likewise, there is no such thing as an "autonomous" or "isolated" parish, but rather one Lord, one Church, and one people of God who in every Diocese meet to worship the living God and to share the living experience of their commonly-held Christian faith with one another in working sessions and in fellowship. Those parish councils who failed to send their priest to the clergy retreat and the Assembly sinned grievously against him, and against their own Church. I cannot accept that in each and every parish there is not even one person, or several individuals together, who would have contributed the cost of a plane ticket and a hotel room out of love for the parish and their priest if asked to do so. It causes me to seriously question whether these parishes that failed to support their priest are indeed viable as effective witnesses to our holy Orthodox faith, and I wonder whether the spirit that produces such a pitiful example of failed stewardship will be able to preserve the parish for the next generation for the sake of our children. Those priests and deacons who did not actively investigate every possibility to make the necessary effort to come together with their hierarch and brother clergy sinned grievously against themselves, their parishes, and the Church. No priest could possibly be so foolish and deluded as to think that he can long endure as a faithful servant of the Lord in separation from his brethren. In the future I may have no choice but to suspend, without pay, those priests and deacons who without valid cause are absent from the clergy retreats and the diocesan Assemblies. Those parish council members who did not make a serious effort to come to the Assembly, and to encourage or recruit representatives from their parishes sinned against their own parish and their fellow parishioners. In this far-flung Diocese it is more important than in any other of our dioceses to make even extraordinary efforts to gather together as the people of God, so as to minimize our isolation, to encourage one another in the faith, and to build up the Body of Christ in these Great Plains, Rocky Mountain, and Great Southwestern states. Failing to do so minimalizes our witness, and relegates our parishes ultimately to becoming museum relics and the priests curators of fading parishes. I most strongly exhort and encourage each of you — priests, deacons, and laity — to confirm your love for the Lord, to demonstrate your dedication to the priesthood and the parish, to manifest your own commitment to our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by faithfully assembling first as a the local parish of faithful and worshipping Orthodox Christians, and then as a diocese of devoted and dedicated servants of the Lord under the Omophorion of this bishop. If, of course, the priests prefer another bishop, I will be happy to accommodate them with a release from this Diocese. With Paternal Blessings, + Metropolitan Isaiah Presiding Hierarch of the Diocese of Denver |
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