March 21, 2021

Sunday of Orthodoxy
Understanding the Human Person

- Fr. Gregory Edwards Ph.D - Dean -


The first Sunday of Great Lent is known as the Sunday of Orthodoxy. On this day we celebrate the restoration of Holy Icons by not simply holding them up as something unique and distinct about our Orthodox faith, but we celebrate this restoration for a reason. Father Gregory shares with us this reason and he suggests that how we understand Icons is directly related to how we understand human beings. From Genesis we read that God made human beings as an icon or image of Himself calling him to His likeness. Every person whether small, old, dirty or broken is made in the image of God and should be treated with reverence and held up like the Holy Icons are today. Icons show us that God Himself took on flesh assuming the material world, showing that it is good, made by His own hand and called to more. This Lenten period can be for us a cleansing of ourselves as Icons and restoring ourselves not only to the Image of God but its likeness.



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.