Most of us have been conditioned to respond quickly to other people's kindness with the word "thank you", almost automatically, without thinking about it. This is why it is not a bad idea to stop for moment (and even better, a day) and ponder over what things we should be really thankful about and who we should be thanking and for what.

"Thanksgiving Day" every year on the last Thursday of November offers us this opportunity. The early pilgrims established this day as a time of thanksgiving to God for the blessings of freedom and the abundance of material things which they were enjoying in the "New World".

The Orthodox immigrants to this country (Russians, Greeks and others) from the very beginning embraced this feast because it reflected their own ethos. As Orthodox Christians we are accustomed to offering thanks to God, not just once a year, but every Sunday. An other term for the "Liturgy" is "Eucharist", from the Greek word "Euxaristia", which means "Thanksgiving". We gather together around the "Eucharistic Table" every Sunday to offer thanks to God for His Spiritual Blessings. Right before the consecration of the Gifts, the priest speaking on behalf of the people, says:

   "It is proper and right to sing to You, to bless You, to praise You, to give thanks to You, and to worship You in all places of Your dominion; for You are God ineffable, beyond comprehension, invisible, beyond understanding, existing forever and always the same; You and Your only begotten Son and Your Holy Spirit. You brought us into being out of nothing, and when we fell, You raised us up again. You did not cease doing everything until You led us to heaven and granted us Your kingdom to come. For all these things we thank You and Your only begotten Son and Your Holy Spirit; for all things that we know and do not know, for blessings seen and unseen that have been bestowed upon us. We also thank You for this liturgy which You are pleased to accept from our  hands, even though You are surrounded by thousands of Archangels and tens of thousands of Angels, by the Cherubim and Seraphim, six-winged, many-eyed, soaring with their wings singing the victory hymn, proclaiming, crying out, and saying, 'Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord of angelic hosts. Heaven and earth are filled with your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna, in the highest!'"

We are thankful to God and we rejoice because, "We have seen the True Light; we have received the Heavenly Spirit; we have found the True Faith, worshipping the undivided Trinity, Who has saved us."

The early Greek Orthodox immigrants to America saw the feast of Thanksgiving also as a celebration of family and togetherness. As Greeks, they treasured the closeness of family and would not pass on an opportunity to come together for a family meal.

Today, when family has scattered and Faith in God is battered, the feast of Thanksgiving has become even of greater importance in forging back into our lives these ideals established by the early pilgrims and cherished by the later immigrants.

As we gather again around the family table, let us ponder over all these things, the love of God for us and His Kingdom that He has opened up for our sake.

Let us give thanks to God for all things again and again!

In Christ's Love,

                                                                  † Fr. Panayiotis