Remembering “August in Antioch”

While cleaning out old files, I found the following excerpt from December 2004 …

Tonight I was fortunate enough – blessed – to be present for the Enthronement of His Grace, BASIL, Bishop of Wichita and Mid-America. I’m just getting back into the hotel room as I’m punching out these words. No time yet to process. But I do know it’s August in Antioch.

The images … St George Cathedral was dimly lighted for the Vespers service. The clergy – 50 of us – lined the center aisle. As we looked back toward the door through which the Metropolitan would enter, two saints stared back at us from the western wall: Ignatius of Antioch and Raphael of Brooklyn. The bells. The arrival. The procession. Vespers. For such a huge building the service sounded and felt gentle and warm. A pregnant hush filled the air. In my heart, it felt like August in Antioch.

At service’s end, there stood Saidna PHILIP on the solea, Saidna JOSEPH to his right, and Saidna BASIL was ensconced on his throne to the left. His proclamation sounded much like the one delivered on the day of his Consecration to the episcopacy: full of love, humility, and power. He didn’t say it, but you could tell: It’s August in Antioch.

The reception that followed was grand without being pompous. (Arabs sure know how to fast.) Fr Constantine Nassr reminisced about his meeting Bishop BASIL 34 years ago at St Vladimir’s Seminary. It was a moving tribute – one which I could never have delivered without crying. George Farha was the first to accuse Metropolitan PHILIP of hallucinating. Then Fr Paul O’Callaghan joined in. They were referring to what they would have said 20 or 30 years ago if someone had told them that this day – Antiochian dioceses, self-rule, bishops of American Sees – would ever come. They would have told that someone that they were hallucinating.

When time finally came for Metropolitan PHILIP’s words, he admitted that he had, indeed, been hallucinating for years, and Fr Paul, Fr Constantine, George Farha, Bishop BASIL, etc, were all part of his hallucination. It was, per normal, a rousing speech by His Eminence. Suddenly we were there, really there, for the “Great Commission.” It’s August in Antioch.

His Eminence reminded us that the Lord said to “Go and make disciples of ALL nations,” not just Syrians, Jordanians, Palestinians, Russians, Greeks. He said he looked forward to the day when 50 bishops gathered to pray to the Triune God. “Why not?” he said. Why not?

The whole article: here.