National Philoptochos Society

We celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord with loved ones and friends at midnight on Holy Saturday as we "Come and receive the Light", the radiant expression of God declaring triumphant victory over death.

The Resurrection gives us the hope that we will live forever in the presence of the Lord, the very same hope which Saint Paul addresses in his letter to the Thessalonians (1:4.13): "We do not grieve like those who have no hope."

We enter the second decade of the third millennium pondering the developments of an era of constant change, when scientific breakthroughs and technological advances bring to our everyday living once unimaginable improvements, instant gratification and the ramifications of these changes. What has not changed in 2,000 years is the example of the life of the incarnate Son of God, the message of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

The Great and Holy Lenten period provides us with the most sacred opportunity for deep prayer, forgiveness, self-reflection, fasting, retreat and charitable acts. This is a time to affirm and strengthen our relationship with our Lord.

This Lenten season marks an appropriate period to renew our commitment of agape and compassion. The women of the Greek Orthodox Ladies Philoptochos Society offer their love and demonstrate their faith through service to those in need. The women of the Society are believers and doers living the Resurrection and practicing Orthodoxy by the way they live their lives and not only with their words. Philoptochos women are and always will be a people of action.

As the myrrh bearing women went so faithfully and with great risk to anoint the precious body of our Lord, we too must continue to anoint the body of the Lord through our love for all humanity. When we light our candle, we must always remember that our responsibility is to share this light with those around us so the darkness that may be present will be pierced with the light of Life!

Kali Anastasi.

With love and admiration in the Resurrected Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,

Aphrodite Skeadas

National Philoptochos President