Hospitality

We extend our good will to all of our guests this week as we invite you to partake of Greek hospitality at our who attended our annual Greek food festival. Please ask any of our volunteers if they may be of any help or if you have any questions. Volunteers, please welcome everyone and thank them for coming.

Extending kindness to visitors, travelers, and others who are in a new place or without friends or family is embodied by the instruction to "Let brotherly love continue. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels." (Hebrews 13:1-2) Cultures that have long been historically associated with the Orthodox Church have embraced early Christian practices to the point that they have become ingrained in their everyday behavior. Indeed, anyone who has observed Orthodox Christians — be they, for example, Greek, Serbian, Russian, Syrian — greet one another outside of a church service will notice that they do "Greet one another with a holy kiss", as St. Paul commanded (Romans 16:16, 2 Corinthians 13:12 and 1 Thessalonians 5:26). And sometimes more than once!

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Accepting the task of hospitality, the Patriarch Abraham used to sit at the entrance to his tent (Gen. 18:1), inviting all who passed by, and his table was laden for all comers, including the impious and barbarians without distinction. Hence he was found worthy of that wonderful banquet when he received angels and the Master of all as guests. We too, then, should actively and eagerly cultivate hospitality, so that we may receive not only angels, but also God himself. "For inasmuch," says the Lord, "as you have done it to one of the least of these My brethren, you have done it unto Me" (Matt. 25:40). It is good to be generous to all, especially to those that cannot repay you.
— St. Theodoros, the Great Ascetic

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Lift up and stretch out your hands, not to heaven but to the poor; for if you stretch out your hands to the poor, you have reached the summit of heaven. But if you lift up your hands in prayer without sharing with the poor, it is worth nothing. Every family should have a room where Christ is welcomed in the person of the hungry and thirsty stranger. The poor are a greater temple than the sanctuary; this altar the poor, you can raise up anywhere, on any street, and offer the liturgy at any hour.
— St. John Chrysostom

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When Abba Agathon went down to the city to sell some of his baskets and to procure a little bread, he found an old cripple near the market. "For the love of God, Abba," the cripple began to plead upon seeing the Saint,"don't you, too, leave this poor wretch unaided. Bring me near near to you." Abba Agathon picked the man up and sat him next to him in the place where he had set up his baskets to sell them. "How much money did you make, Abba?" the cripple would ask each time that the Elder sold a basket. "Such and such," the Elder would tell him. "That's good enough," the cripple finally said. "Won't you buy me a little pie, Abba? That would be good of you, since I have not eaten since last evening." "With pleasure," the Saint told him, immediately fulfilling the cripple's request. Shortly thereafter, the cripple requested some fruit. And then some sweets. Thus, for each basket that was sold, the Saint spent the proceeds, until, thanks to his patronage, all of the baskets and money were gone, without his having kept even two pennies for himself. More importantly, he did all of this with great eagerness, even though he knew that he would thus go perhaps two weeks without any bread for himself.

Since he had sold his last basket, the Saint got ready to leave the marketplace. "So you're going?" the cripple asked him. "Yes, I have completed all of my work," Abba Agathon answered. Please, do me the favor of taking me as far as the crossroads, and you can leave for the desert from there," the strange old man requested of Abba yet again. The good Aganthon took the cripple on his back and carried him to the place where he wanted to go, though with great difficulty, since he was exhausted from his day's work.

As soon as he reached the crossroads and began to put down his living burden, he heard a sweet voice say to him:

    "May you be blessed, Agathon, by God, both on earth and in Heaven."

The Saint raised up his eyes to see who it was who had spoken to him. The would-be old man had suddenly and completely disappeared, however, as he was an Angel sent by God to test the Saint's love.
— The Desert Fathers

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Love giving hospitality, my child, for it opens the gates of Paradise. In this, you also offer hospitality to angels. "Entertain strangers so that you will not be a stranger to God."
— Elder Amphilochios Makris

A HYMN on the HOSPITALITY of MARTHA and MARY
by St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Hospitality, a virtue which by God is commanded,
Until now, by it, many souls were drawn to Paradise.
Abraham the Wonderful showed infinite hospitality,
Immeasurable and cordial and not hypocritical.
And King David greatly respected hospitality,
That is why, the life of King Saul, he strictly guarded.
And when the Ancient One [Christ] appeared, older than the aged Abraham,
From the Lineage of David, when darkness hid,
Then, Martha and Mary, sisters of Lazarus,
Showed hospitality these hospitable virgins:
Hosted the Greatest One since the sun flows,
With Hospitality, each one of them heavenly paradise attained.
With hospitality, perfect in heart and food,
Hospitality most worthy in word and in deed.
And the Lord Most-rich, abundantly repaid,
And, this hospitable home, when death saddened
Jesus, the deceased brother to the sisters, resurrected,
And, to them, eternal glory spread throughout the entire world.
This is the reward of hospitality from God Himself,
The Lord loves the Hospitality of a sincere heart.
Holy Church boasts of Martha and Mary,
Teaching that we are also guests at the table of the Lord.