Mother of the Streets Syriac Orthodox Mission

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Who is the Mother of the Streets? Jesus said that all who hear him and follow him are his mother, sister, brother. So are you a Mother of the Streets? 

To turn away from the outcasts of society, the needy and the powerless is to turn away from Jesus. Such people show his face to the world. These people are also a presence of the Church because where Christ is, there is his Church.

A greater number of homeless and almost homeless people live on the streets. These people can be unemployed, unemployed or underemployed workers, battered women, the untreated mentally ill, or simply those too poor to survive. They tend to be "invisible" to the rest of society, but they are a real presence of Christ, the Suffering Servant.

The Mother of God is the mother of those who are in the streets. Her garments and those of her Son are covered with jewels and gold decorations, revealing the hidden value and dignity of the people of the street, who are living icons of God.

We are inclined to think of Mary as a fresh young virgin, sixteen or seventeen years old, who never gets old. She was worn out, she had gray hair, hunched cheeks, a furrowed forehead, maybe even a bent back because she was a working woman. Her hands were probably very rough. That is why Mary is the type of the Church. Looking at the Church externally we see all the faults, we see all the sins. We see greed, corruption, and ambition. We forget that this is the Church that is the Body of Christ.

This is the Church that is scarred with the wounds of Christ, who seemed repulsive to Himself when he achieved his crucifixion. This is the Church that has carried the burden of humanity for almost two thousand years.

This is the Church that has borne our sins. This is the Church that is tired, with a furrowed brow, with lined cheeks, with gray hair, like Mary. That is why Mary is the type of the Church. She is our Mother.

And these are the people that the Holy Martyrs listen to, learn their names and serve

These are the folks of this mission parish.

Every day when we pray, we thank Christ for His willingness to let us be with people and allow us to be their neighbors. We thank Him not just to see His face but to also meet and listen to Him. 

This defines us as Christians: when we’re with people, strangers who come to the door, we don’t put them into little social boxes – refugees, the poor, the displaced. With Christ, we say: they are our brothers and sisters. In them we see not only the face of Christ, but Christ Himself.

The most fundamental need of your brothers and sisters, your neighbors, is something that most take for granted - a meaningful place in a healthy community, a sense of belonging. And this lack of community in the world today. 

Folks, your brothers and sisters, are being shut out. You treat them as a category, you call them the poor. Christ calls your brothers and sisters something far different.Hecalls them by their names.

Want to meet Him? Come on down. We don't talk about volunteering. We introduce you to Him. Christ and all His Saint are in every Orthodox Church. Be His heart and His hands. That is all of our calling.     

We are small and would like to grow.  And we also need folks to join us. In other words, compassionate hearts and hands to do Christ’s work. Want to join us? 

Traditional Orthodox Christianity. Serving God by Serving the Poor and the Poorest of the Poor in America's Inner Cities and Missions. Bringing the truth of Orthodox Christianity to the disenfranchised and marginalized, the poor and forgotten...the Message of the Stable. “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” John9:4-6