Page 130 - Prayer Book

130
Prayer B o ok
During my priestly service at the Embassy’s chapel, I
encountered the following issue: In addition to Greek Or-
thodox worshippers, a group of Ethiopians also attended
services at Saint Andrew’s Church—and they received
Holy Communion. They were no longer non-Chalcedoni-
an because about ten years earlier, when they had asked the
then-priest for permission to worship there, that priest had
chrismated them as Orthodox! However, this arrangement
didn’t sit well with the embassy, and they instructed me as
the presiding priest and Bishop Spyridon Papageorgiou of
Apamea, as the archiepiscopal overseer, to discreetly re-
move the Ethiopians. Naturally, tensions arose!
At that point, I called Elder Porphyrios to ask for his
advice. The elder answered the phone, and I explained the
problem. Then the elder handed the phone to Mr. Arvani-
tis and began speaking loudly so that I could hear him,
while Mr. Arvanitis repeated his words over the phone. He
told me the following: “In the row of seats on the left side
of the church, the Ethiopians are standing, one behind the
other, dressed in their traditional robes! At the front of
them stands an elderly Ethiopian with no hair and wearing
glasses, wrapped in a white sheet. He is their leader!” I was
stunned! Everything was exactly as the elder had described
it, as though he were there in person seeing it! The elder
continued: “Speak to him, their leader, and tell him to
make a formal request to the Greek embassy, asking for
official permission to worship in the chapel.”
This solution, however, did not please the bishop, and
the problem remained unresolved.
A few days later, the phone rang. I answered, and it was
the voice of the elder, asking me, “What did you do with