Visit of Metropolitan Kallistos — Week 1

Despite two record-setting snowstorms in the Washington area, Metropolitan Kallistos arrived from the UK safe and sound on Monday evening.  Dulles Airport was opened just long enough for his scheduled flight to arrive only 3 hours late.

However, because of the snow on the ground (over 2 feet!), the Washington Theological Consortium postponed their Ecumenical Lecture one week and rescheduled it for Tuesday, February 16.  This was done soon enough to get the word out, and to allow His Eminence and I to drive to Richmond, VA a day early for his lecture there.  Richmond was not expecting the great amount of snow as in Washington, and over 200 people turned out for the Wednesday evening event at Sts. Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Cathedral.  He spoke about “Athens and Jerusalem: Hellenic Paideia and the Greek Fathers” followed by a social reception where His Eminence signed many copies of his books.

With the second storm dumping another 2 feet + on Washington, we likewise postponed the lecture at Epiphany Byzantine Catholic Church from Thursday evening to tonight, February 14.  So we were able to stay over a second night in Richmond and have a more leisurely return in the afternoon.  Having left Washington on Tuesday before the snow, and returning after the storm was over, we missed the storm entirely, except finding over 5 feet of snow on the ground when we returned, the most ever in Washington history.

Despite all this, over 100 persons attended the lecture at St. Katherine’s Greek Orthodox Church in Falls Church on Friday evening to hear His Eminence speak about “Salvation in Christ: the Meaning of the Cross.”  A small social reception was also held for attendees to meet Metropolitan Kallistos and get copies of his books autographed.

On Saturday, St. Mark’s Orthodox Church in Bethesda, MD was the host parish for three lectures throughout the afternoon.  Metropolitan Jonah, Primate of the Orthodox Church in America, was present and introduced His Eminence to the 150+ persons attending.  Metropolitan Kallistos gave three lectures on various aspects of “Our Transfiguration in Christ:  The Message of the Philokalia”, in particular linking the feast of the Transfiguration with the image of the Holy Cross.  Refreshments were served in the parish social hall throughout the afternoon, and a small dinner was hosted that evening at a nearby restaurant for the two Metropolitans and invited guests.

On Sunday morning, Metropolitan Kallistos was the main celebrant at the Divine Liturgy at St. Mark’s Church, along with several priests, deacons, servers, and the parish choir singing choral arrangements in English.

All the lectures by Metropolitan Kallistos, and the Divine Liturgy, are available as CD or DVD recordings from OLTV through the online catalog at www.olconference.com or by calling 703-6912-8862.