The Joy of Orthodoxy

The Joy of Orthodoxy

Deacon David Lochbihler, J.D.

Orthodox Logos Publishing

The Joy of Orthodoxy

by Deacon David Lochbihler, J.D.

Front cover photograph by Callie Rae Kyhl

Back cover photograph by Micah Marie Friedrich

Book cover design and interior layout by Max Mendor

Publishers Maxim Hodak & Max Mendor

© 2022, Orthodox Logos Publishing,

The Netherlands

www.orthodoxlogos.com

ISBN: 978-1-80484-005-4 (Ebook)

This book is in copyright. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Prologue

1. Monday

2. Tuesday

3. Wednesday

4. Thursday

5. Friday

6. Saturday

7. Sunday

Epilogue

Notes

Bibliography

About the Author

To Luci Marie

The Days of the Week

The bunnies hop on Monday.

Children run on Tuesday.

Flowers bloom on Wednesday.

Walk your dog on Thursday.

Play games on Friday.

Eat treats on Saturday.

And everyone rests on Holy Sunday.

Millie Ruth Frazier, Poems All Year Round

Acknowledgments

Most all of the research and scholarship in this book was learned at the Antiochian Village in Pennsylvania through the Saint Stephen’s Course of Studies and Master’s Degree Program in Applied Orthodox Theology. Although there are thousands of Orthodox books in libraries, seminaries, and bookstores, I tried to make this book unique in two ways. First, I wanted to focus primarily on the pure joy inherent in being or becoming Orthodox. Second, I tried to combine personal stories, scholarly work, and practical advice in one manuscript. I hope The Joy of Orthodoxy touches you, my beloved reader, in at least one of these two avenues of emphasis. Orthodox Joy helps us stand strong during these historically challenging times.

I want to begin by thanking Metropolitan Joseph of the Antiochian Archdiocese of North America for approving my ordination to the diaconate at the Western Rite Conference in Fort Worth, Texas, Bishop John for ordaining me at Saint Patrick Orthodox Church on Saint Patrick’s Day 17 March 2019, and Bishop Thomas for his deep love for and faithful friendship with our dear parishioners in the pews of Saint Patrick Orthodox Church. The wonder-filled people of Saint Patrick are supreme. Receiving innumerable letters from pen pals Maggie McLaurin, Luci Marie, Evangeline Sophia, Leah Lanelle, Olivia Anne, James Patrick, Sola Elise, Millie Ruth, the Charismatic Kyhls, the Fantastic Friedrichs, the Mighty Meadors, the dynamic Dohms, the Wondrous Wetzels, and the Faithful Fraziers brings great joy to my heart. These wonder-filled Saint Patrick families and friends epitomize the essence of Orthodox Joy.

Special thanks to David and Jo Thoburn and my students, parents, and colleagues at The Fairfax Christian School in Dulles, Virginia, where I teach fourth grade. I also am extremely grateful to Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, Father Anthony Messeh, Father Peter Gillquist of blessed memory, Father Alexander Atty of blessed memory, Father Patrick Cardine, and Father Thomas Palke for guiding me into Orthodoxy.

I completed the first draft of this book at Our Lady and Saint Laurence Monastery in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. A heartfelt thank you to Dom Theodore, Brother Joseph, Dame Sophia of blessed memory, Dame Olga of blessed memory, and Marcão for making me feel so at home during my summer travels. Summer vacation also is a great time to visit and serve with Father Peter Jon Gillquist and his mother Khouria Marilyn of All Saints Orthodox Church in Bloomington, Indiana.

Growing up in the 1960’s in Fort Wayne, Indiana, it was a joy to live only two blocks from Saint Charles Borromeo Church and School at our spacious home with the big backyard on Elwood Drive. Grandpa Vincent William and Grandma Mamie Lucy of blessed memory, Dad Frederick Louis of blessed memory, and Mom Marion Helen, siblings Fred, Lyn, and Vince, and cats Angel Face and Dusty, built a marvelous life together with an abundance of joyful memories. Grandpa immigrated into the United States from Lithuania in 1888 at the age of eighteen with two cents in his pocket. Not knowing any English, he learned the language and became an accomplished Chicago attorney. Grandma lived to be 103 and loved praying the Rosary twice daily. Mom and Dad met at Marshall Field’s in downtown Chicago after World War Two, with Dad serving in Guadalcanal and earning the rank of Colonel in the United States Army. Mom’s drive and Dad’s calm were the perfect combination to raise four successful children.

After getting married on New Year’s Eve in 1948, Mom and Dad’s first pet was a boxer named Putch Pye. Mom and Dad built three houses: the Frank Lloyd Wright house at Ogden Dunes, the Graham Woods house near Chesterton, and our most memorable childhood home at Elwood Drive in Fort Wayne. We moved to Penrose Drive during my four years at Bishop Dwenger High School and adopted a remarkable white American Eskimo dog named Shell-a-Babe, although we kids called her Pupface. Mom recently celebrated her one hundredth birthday with her beloved family, living a century while successfully schooling us for many years with her superior skill as our family’s finest reigning Gin Rummy Hall of Fame Champion. My older siblings Fred, Lyn, and Vince are my lifelong best friends. Additional sources of joy are those marrying into our family, Darlene of blessed memory, Judy, Whitney, Kevin, and Tania, as well as my nieces and nephews Angela Marie, Stephanie Lynn, Brett Jordan, and Frederick Lochbihler IV, and grandnephews Grant, Nolan, Isaac, and our newest additions to our small clan, Frederick Fuechee Lochbihler V and his new baby sister Leilana. I love and thank my amazing family.

This work would not be worthy to print without the expert advice of Father James Hamrick and the editing assistance of Brian Donohue and Scott Richardson. Finally, a heartfelt thank you to publishers Maxim Hodak and Max Mendor of Orthodox Logos in the Nederland for publishing this book. Your kindness and patience (longsuffering) are deeply appreciated.

I finish this manuscript, a project begun many years ago, and forward it to the Netherlands from my favourite childhood vacation venue, McCormick’s Creek State Park in Indiana, after celebrating Mom’s 100th birthday and spending precious summer travel time with my family. I would love to hear from you, my beloved reader, if any small part of this work touches your heart.

Friends in Jesus and Mary,

Deacon David Lochbihler, J.D.

Saint Patrick Orthodox Church

Sunday 7 August 2022

Canyon Inn, McCormick’s Creek State Park, Indiana

[email protected]

Prologue

Wonder

A child’s heart is filled with wonder, and from wonder springs forth poetry. Because Jesus’ heart is a poetic one, one who follows him sees rightly with his heart, a heart that in devotion seeks to die for that which it loves. ¹ The poet understands and appreciates the mystery of wonder.

William Wordsworth clearly articulates the interplay between our childlike wonder and our adult faith:

The Child is father of the Man;

And I could wish my days to be

Bound each to each by natural piety. ²

Gerard Manley Hopkins sees the beauty of wonder clearly and can say, The world is charged with the grandeur of God. ³ The Paschal Mystery, in which we know the Friday of Jesus’ death will be forever Good, is profound and requires a child’s heart filled with wonder in order to appreciate fully its significance. We can meet our God made Incarnate to the extent our hearts look deeply at life with the eyes of both a child and a poet.

Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ To be a child of God means to see again with the inner eyes of faith, to truly wonder. A child is devoted to his or her best friends Jesus and Mary with a pure heart and the experience of joyful humility. Baptized as infants the month after we were born, our entire lives are sacramental and filled with mystery.

My own childhood was filled with wonder. As the youngest of four in a devout Roman Catholic family, my sacramental life began early, with Confession in second grade, Communion in third, and Confirmation in fourth. We would play Priest as children. I remember wearing a red towel tied to my neck and draped down my back, looking more like Superman than a priest. We pretended with childlike sincerity to baptize our cat Angel Face with water. For Communion, we would use a hot iron and Wonder Bread wrapped in tin foil to make little communion wafers. I think back to my own wonder-filled childhood and the devotion I experienced so personally and deeply as I walked to weekday morning Mass during the summer between third and fourth grades, loving Jesus and Mary as intimate friends, looking with awe at the giant crucifix above the altar, and first nurturing in my heart the desire to become a priest. The holiness and joy of church life touched the deepest part of our young and enthusiastic hearts.

My life has been filled with joy, but it only has been upon my coming home and becoming Orthodox that my joy may be complete. ⁵ I was