February 16, 2020

A Far Country
Sunday Sermon

- Fr. Gregory Edwards Ph.D - Dean -


Today’s Gospel reading comes to us from Luke 15:11-32 and it narrates for us the well-known parable of the Prodigal Son. The Fathers of the Church say that if no other passage of Scripture survived, it would be enough to be saved, because it encapsulates the whole human condition and its solution, Jesus Christ. The younger son in the parable suffered like many today with an attitude of entitlement and demanded his inheritance, which he is given and subsequently squanders with prodigal living finding himself in a far country. Each of us must come to a point like the prodigal and realize we too have alienated ourselves from God in a far country and lost our original beauty  because of our brokenness. Orthodox Christians should come to ourselves and realize we belong in the Father's house, the Church, which is in this world but not of this world.



The Rev. Fr. Gregory Edwards, Ph.D., was raised in Virginia and eastern Pennsylvania, and became a member of the Orthodox Church while studying for his Bachelor's degree

307 19th Street South, Birmingham, AL 35233 | Fr. Gregory Edwards, Dean | 205.716.3080

Photography Credits: Beth Hontzas - Music: Presbytera Katerina Makiej





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The Rev. Fr. Gregory Edwards, Ph.D., was raised in Virginia and eastern Pennsylvania, and became a member of the Orthodox Church while studying for his Bachelor's degree in Religious Studies at Brown University. After completing a Master's Degree in the New Testament and early Christianity at Florida State University, he conducted doctoral studies in Greece at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, graduating summa cum laude in 2012. Ordained in 2007, he served parishes in Thessaloniki and Volos for 9 years. He and his wife Presvytera Pelagia lived in Greece from 2006-2016, where their four children were born. He has served as Assistant Professor of Missiology at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Seminary in New York since 2014. Before coming to Birmingham in March 2019, Fr. Gregory served St. George Greek Orthodox Church in New Port Richey, FL from 2016-2019.