The Rev. Gregory Joshua Edwards didn't
always believe in God.
Growing up in Pennsylvania, Edwards
avoided his family's Episcopalian beliefs and focused on academics.
Valedictorian
of his 1996 high school graduating class, he served as student body president
and editor of the yearbook.
He referred
to himself as an atheist.
Then, as a
student at Brown University, he began to question the meaning of life.
Edwards'
spiritual inquiries led him to the Greek Orthodox Church, into which he was
received in April 2003.
After
graduating with a degree in religious studies from Brown in 2003, Edwards
worked as a teaching assistant and master's candidate in the religion
department at Florida State University. He volunteered with AmeriCorps,
managing soup kitchens and building houses for people in need. In 2006, he
enrolled as a doctoral student in the School of Theology at Aristotle
University of Thessaloniki.
On Feb. 22,
2009, he was ordained in the holy priesthood of the Orthodox Church.
Edwards, 38,
recently accepted a position at St. George Greek Orthodox Church in New Port
Richey. The church, at 9426 Little Road, welcomed him as its father in October.
I asked
Edwards about his path to faith, what it means to serve others and his new
position in Pasco County.
What appealed to you about the Orthodox
faith?
When I was
in college, I was an atheist, studying Nietzsche, Sartre, etc. At a certain
point, I came face to face with a real existential crisis. Why was I here? What
was the purpose of my life? Was it really only to get good grades so that I can
get a good job, so that I can buy a big house, fancy car? I came to realize
that there was a God, but I didn't know who he was. I wanted a relationship
with him because I understood that he was life. But how can you have a
relationship with someone you don't know? So I changed my major in college and
began studying the history of religions.
I went back
to the Protestant church I grew up in. But the Christianity that was being
presented to me in the U.S. didn't ring true. Disillusioned, I began exploring
Buddhism, and I was attracted by its mystical prayer and contemplation. But
something was missing there, too. I had never even heard of Orthodox
Christianity until it was mentioned by a professor in a course about the
history of Christianity. She said that the same worship service that Christians
were using in the 5th century was still being used today in the Orthodox
Church. I had to know where I could find this. The more I read about the
history of Christianity, the more I was convinced that the Orthodox Church had
preserved the Christian inheritance in a way that western Christianity had not.
I was especially moved by its unchanging doctrine and its focus on mystical
prayer.
Why did you decide to pursue a career
within the church?
Once I
discovered where the spring for the water of life was, I wanted nothing else
but to be near it at all times. Everything else, my promising worldly career,
suddenly paled in comparison. I felt I could do nothing else.
What is most rewarding to you about
serving others?
We
Christians believe that Christ came "not to be served, but to serve,"
Mark 10:45. He who is God assumed the form of a humble servant. For me then,
serving others is an imitation of Christ. I try to do it, however, not out of
some religious obligation, but out of the radical freedom that God has given me
by making me in his image and likeness, just as God himself became man of his
own free will.
I'm not
Greek, but I learned many things in my 10 years in Greece, one of which was the
concept of philotimo, which
actually can't be translated into English. It means something like "freely
responding with sincere goodness to the smallest good done by another."
When I look at how much God has done for me, I am moved by this sense of philotimo to serve Him and others.
What do you hope to offer your new church
home going forward? What do you like most about the church?
I was
fortunate to spend 10 years in Greece, soaking up the world view of the country
where Christianity first blossomed in Europe, the land of Thessalonica,
Corinth, the land which has preserved and maintained Christianity at great cost
for 2000 years. I hope to be able to bring some of this experience to the U.S.
and offer a translation to contemporary American culture. My goal is simply to
try to bring authentic Orthodox Christianity and most important to try to
embody it in my own person and life.
The thing I
like most about the parish of St. George is its warm sense of community, its
friendliness and openness to outsiders, including me, a former Protestant
raised in Pennsylvania. We welcome everyone to join us.
Source: http://www.tampabay.com/news/religion/priests-spiritual-path-leads-him-to-st-george-greek-orthodox-church/2300825
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