June 13, 2021

Partakers of Divinity
The Church and Public Truth

- Fr. Gregory Edwards Ph.D - Dean -


Each year this Sunday stands between two Great Feasts of the Church, the Ascension and Pentecost. Today in Orthodoxy we celebrate the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council. Thousands of Bishops were invited by the Emperor Constantine to unify the Church’s belief and teaching about the nature of Jesus Christ. Arias, a presbyter from Alexandra, Egypt, was teaching that Jesus was first in the created order, but He could not be God. Three hundred and eighteen bishops, guided by the Holy Spirit, convened in Nicaea, to share their experience of what had been passed down from the Apostles; that Jesus Christ is fully God. Father Gregory examines and shares three points; public truth, the nature of the Church as a receptacle of the truth and why it is important for us and our salvation. The purpose of our lives as Christians, is to imitate Jesus Christ and to follow His Divine teachings. In doing so, we can become partakers in His Divine Nature and have communion with God Himself.



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.