Thursday, December 12, 2019

Elder Ephraim of Arizona remembered

Posted by Byzantine, TX

5 comments:

  1. JakeDecember 12, 2019 at 5:11 PM

    Where is this particular Greek colony located?

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    Replies
    1. SojournerDecember 12, 2019 at 8:52 PM

      Phoenix AZ. Amusingly Elder Ephraim consented to move to America only after being asked for 10 years and when he saw how wayward the Greeks had become in America, but while he admittedly came for the Greeks, its American converts who have filled his monasteries.

      Delete
    2. JakeDecember 13, 2019 at 10:19 AM

      Thanks for your reply Sojourner, but my question was tongue in cheek.

      Without denying Elder Eprhaim's personal holiness, the good of establishing monestaries, and fill_in_the_blank, the fact that this service was so mono-culture Greek "in" Arizona (but only in an alien way), well it begs questions...

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    3. SojournerDecember 13, 2019 at 11:14 AM

      Yes it is a constant frustration to be American and feel like an outsider in your own country when it comes to church.

      To be fair tho, for this particular situation, even if everything was normally in English, I would understand the use of Greek here since Elder Ephraim only spoke Greek, its what he grew up with and understood, so it was appropriate.

      I was sad to not be able to understand any of the sermons given, tho I hope translations will be made at some point.

      Im hopeful that within a generation, after the founding members from Greece have reposed or handed over leadership that the monasteries will transition to English, but we'll see.

      Delete
  2. JasonDecember 14, 2019 at 10:12 PM

    There are many Greeks in the Elder's monasteries as well as American converts. I don't know the exact breakdown of Greek vs convert, but there are a lot of Greeks in his monasteries.

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