The Sisterhood of Presvyteres from the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco gathered at St. Nicholas Ranch and Retreat Center in Dunlap, CA, for their annual retreat on January 21-23, 2022. The theme was “Who Has Christ Called Us To Be? Hearing, Living and Responding to the Call.”
Their gathering began on Friday evening with a Paraklesis sung by those who had already arrived at the Ranch. His Eminence Metropolitan Gerasimos greeted the Sisterhood via Zoom. He welcomed all who were in attendance and encouraged them to have a spiritually fruitful retreat. His Eminence extended his love and blessings to all the Presvyteres and Diakonisses under his pastoral care, referring to the retreat as an important time to share in fellowship, to share joys, challenges, and to strengthen their bonds as sojourners in your shared ministry. When speaking about prioritizing one’s spiritual health Metropolitan Gerasimos stated, “If your heart and mind and soul are aligned with the Lord, then all those who are under your care will have a beautiful example to emulate. The same holds true for all those with whom you interact. You will emanate peace. You will demonstrate Christ’s love. You will become a beacon of faith.”
Presvytera Pat Tsagalakis led the Sisterhood in a discussion about how they are all special in the eyes of God. Using Max Lucado’s book You Are Special as a beautiful illustration of her point, she explored how others’ opinions often affect a Presvytera’s self-image and that the pressure to appear perfect is neither healthy nor from God. God made all of His creations unique and sees each person as He made them, not based on unachievable standards or perceived perfection. She reinforced the idea that if God’s opinion is the only one that truly matters, all of the societal noise that can negatively affect emotional health will not stick as did the stickers in Lucado’s story. Encouraged by the willingness of the group to sing together, Presvytera Pat led the group in an enthusiastic and beautiful rendition of “This Little Light of Mine.”
On Saturday morning, the retreat resumed with an Orthros service in the Chapel of Saint Photini in the Alex and Faye Spanos Faith and Heritage Center. The main session of the retreat happened later that morning and was led by Presvytera Donna Pappas. She focused on the importance of taking time to care for yourself instead of only ever caring for others. She stressed that it is okay to not be perfect or have everything under control constantly. The song “Surface Pressure” from the Disney’s Encanto soundtrack put words to the stress of trying to always balance everything for everyone and why it is not a sustainable model for emotional well-being. After meditating individually on Bible verses and spiritually edifying quotes provided by Presvytera Donna, the retreat participants chose a word to focus on for the year and were instructed to write this word on an index card posted in an obvious place as a reminder. By focusing on one thing, the stresses of balancing everything are mitigated.
The Sisterhood hopes to return to St. Nicholas Ranch and Retreat Center in Dunlap, CA for the next annual retreat in January 2023.