Breaking Away

We tried leaving once before but failed. Well, this time we are really going to do it. We are going to leave Holy Trinity Cathedral. We've finally concluded that we aren't ever going to move back to San Francisco. (It makes me so sad to say that. It is the only place I have ever wanted to live. At least I was able to live there for a couple of years.) Its been about six years since we moved away from there. Which means it has been six years of spending 1.5 hours (when we lived in Mountain View) to 3 hours (now that we live in Willow Glen) in the car every time we went to church. Sometimes even longer than that if we couldn't find a place to park and hand to circle the block and hunt all over the neighborhood. Often, like last week, we missed church altogether because a place to park couldn't be found.

So, anyway, Archpriest John has given us his blessing to begin a search for a new parish. At the top of the list is St. Nicholas in Saratoga, but we will be checking out St. Basil Church in San Jose and a few others. We are not happy about this change in parishes. The people, the relics of many saints, the clergy, the bells, the icons, the history, even the smell of the building are all dear to me. One of the hardest things is that the last thing Fr. Victor said to me was "Matthew, Don't leave when I die". I hope all he meant was "Don't leave the Orthodox Faith." Athanasia walked around crying for a whole day when she wrote the letter to Archpriest John. There are tears on my cheeks as I type this. But we miss too many services and we worry for our children, they are being deprived of Grace. So, we are saying good-bye.

There is too much saying good-bye in this life; to parents, children, friends, pastors, parishes, even whole cities. This is why Abraham looked for that city who's builder and maker is God. He wanted permanence.