By Fr. Michael Psaromatis
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia
Before the Divine Liturgy I often find a folded sheet of paper beside the Proskomide. The names are written in Greek or English, some carefully and others in a hand made unsteady by age. As I cut a small particle from the prosphoron and place it beside the Lamb, I may read the name of a son who has stayed away from church for years, or of a husband whom his widow still remembers long after others have ceased to speak of him. Income, achievement, usefulness and temperament disappear from the piece of paper. The Church commemorates each person because each life belongs to God.
Later that morning a family may come into the parish office and ask, ‘Father, how much is the baptism?’ The question is understandable. Clothes, the reception and the other expenses are already pressing on the family budget. After a death, accounts from the funeral director and cemetery arrive while relatives are still trying to grasp what…
