Message of the Episcopal Assembly Of the Canonical Orthodox Hierarchs of North and Central America May 26-28, 2010
May 28, 2010
MESSAGE
We glorify the name of the Triune God for gathering us at this first Episcopal Assembly of this region in New York City on May 26-28, 2010 in response to the decisions of the Fourth Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conference held at the Orthodox Center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambésy, Switzerland, from June 6-12, 2009, at the invitation of His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
Gathered together in the joy of the Feast of Pentecost, we humbly recognize our calling, in our unworthiness, to serve as instruments and disciples of the Paraclete, who “holds together the whole institution of the Church” (Hymn of Vespers of Pentecost).
We honor and express gratitude to the Primates and Representatives of the Orthodox Autocephalous Churches who assembled at the Ecumenical Patriarchate from October 10-12, 2008 to affirm their “unswerving position and obligation to safeguard the unity of the Orthodox Church” (Chambésy Rules of Operation, Article 5.1a) and emphasized their will and “desire for the swift healing of every canonical anomaly that has arisen from historical circumstances and pastoral requirements” (Message of the Primates 13.1-2)
We call to mind those who envisioned this unity in this region and strove to transcend the canonical irregularities resulting for many reasons, including geographically overlapping jurisdictions. For, just as the Lord in the Divine Eucharist is “broken and distributed, but not divided” (Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom), so also His Body comprises many members, while constituting His One Church.
We are grateful for the gift of the doctrinal and liturgical unity that we already share, and we are inspired by our leaders, the Heads of all the Orthodox Churches throughout the world, who proposed that which we painfully yearn for in this region, i.e., the “swift healing of every canonical anomaly” (Message of the Primates 13.2). We are also grateful that they established a fundamental process toward a canonical direction and resolution.
We are thankful to almighty God for the growth of Orthodoxy, for the preservation of our traditions, and for the influence of our communities in this region. This is indeed a miracle and a mystery.
During our gathering, and in accordance with the rules of operation of Episcopal Assemblies promulgated by the Fourth Pan-Orthodox Pre-Conciliar Conference, we established:
1. A registry of canonical bishops (Article 6.1)
2. A committee to determine the canonical status of local communities in the region that have no reference to the Most Holy Autocephalous Churches (Article 6.2)
3. A registry of canonical clergy (Article 6.3)
4. Committees to undertake the work of the Assembly, among others including liturgical, pastoral, financial, educational, ecumenical, and legal issues (Articles 11 and 12)
5. A committee to plan for the organization of the Orthodox of the region on a canonical basis (Article 5.1).
In addition to the above, we agreed that a directory would be created and maintained by the Assembly of all canonical congregations in our region.
We as Episcopal Assembly understand ourselves as being the successors of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA), assuming its agencies, dialogues, and other ministries.
Moreover, at the formal request of the Hierarchs who have jurisdiction in Canada, the Assembly will submit to the Ecumenical Patriarch, in accordance with the rules of operation (Article 13), a request to partition the present region of North and Central America into two distinct regions of the United States and Canada. Additionally, at the request of the Hierarchs who have jurisdiction in Mexico and Central America, the Assembly will likewise request to merge Mexico and Central America with the Assembly of South America.
As Orthodox Hierarchs in this blessed region, we express our resolve to adhere to and adopt the regulations proposed by the Pan-Orthodox Conferences and approved by the Autocephalous Orthodox Churches, and to do everything in our power by the grace of God to advance actions that facilitate canonical order in our region.
We confess our fidelity to the Apostolic Orthodox faith and pledge to promote “common action to address the pastoral needs of Orthodox living in our region” (Chambésy, Decision 2c). We call upon our clergy and faithful to join us in these efforts “to safeguard and contribute to the unity of the Orthodox Church of the region in its theological, ecclesiological, canonical, spiritual, philanthropic, educational and missionary obligations” (Article 5.1) as we eagerly anticipate the Holy and Great Council.
The Assembly concluded with the celebration of the Divine Liturgy on Friday, May 28, 2010 at the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Archdiocesan Cathedral in New York City. During the Liturgy prayers were offered for the repose of the eleven victims of the current ecological disaster in the Gulf Coast, for the consolation of their families, for all those adversely affected by this catastrophe, as well as for all people living under conditions of war, persecution, violence, and oppression.
Of the sixty-six Hierarchs in the region, the following 55 were present at this Assembly:
Archbishop Demetrios, Chairman
Metropolitan Philip, Vice Chairman
Archbishop Justinian, Vice Chairman
Bishop Basil, Secretary
Archbishop Antony,Treasurer
Metropolitan Iakovos
Metropolitan Constantine
Metropolitan Athenagoras
Metropolitan Methodios
Metropolitan Isaiah
Metropolitan Nicholas
Metropolitan Alexios
Metropolitan Nikitas
Metropolitan Nicholas
Metropolitan Gerasimos
Metropolitan Evangelos
Metropolitan Paisios
Archbishop Yurij
Bishop Christopher
Bishop Vikentios
Bishop Savas
Bishop Andonios
Bishop Ilia
Bishop Ilarion
Bishop Andriy
Bishop Demetrios
Bishop Daniel
Bishop Antoun
Bishop Joseph
Bishop Thomas
Bishop Mark
Bishop Alexander
Metropolitan Hilarion
Bishop Iov
Bishop Gabriel
Bishop Peter
Bishop Theodosius
Bishop George
Bishop Ieronim
Metropolitan Christopher
Bishop Maxim
Archbishop Nicolae
Bishop Ioan Casian
Metropolitan Joseph
Metropolitan Jonah
Archbishop Nathaniel
Archbishop Seraphim
Bishop Nikon
Bishop Tikhon
Bishop Benjamin
Bishop Melchisedek
Bishop Alejo
Bishop Irineu
Bishop Irinee
Bishop Michael
1 ¼ Cups warm water
1 Cup rehydrated milk with 1 Tablespoon sweet cream powder
¼ Cup walnut oil
¼ Cup grapeseed oil
¼ Cup molasses
¼ Cup honey
1 ½ Cup cooked wild rice
2 ½ tsp sea salt
½ tsp brown sugar
4 Cups fresh ground wheat flour
3 Cups High gluten bread flour
1 Tablespoon Vital Gluten
1 Tablespoon dough enhancer
2 Tablespoons yeast
Preheat oven to 400°. Combine ingredients, except for yeast, in bowl with bread hook, use only half of flour. Mix until wet. Then add the rest of the flour with yeast on top. Begin kneading until dough pulls away from side of bowl, use additional high gluten flour to incorporate if needed. Knead for about 6 to 7 minutes until you can “form a window”. Remove from bowl and form into 4 (2 lb) loaf or into 6 (12 oz) small loafs, or you can free form 2 to 4 round loafs. Let rise to double. Place in oven and lower temp to 325°. Bake until internal temperature is 180°. This truly a whole grain bread that is great with a Sunday meal, or with salad or with stew. Enjoy!
Reflection: “Thoughts on the Holy Cross” by Fr. Seraphim Holland
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen[1].
Brothers and sisters, a Christian must always be able to answer questions. You must always be comparing things. Constantly, daily, hour-by-hour, minute-by-minute, you should be making comparisons and you should be making trades. St. Andrew of Crete, in his Great Canon, urges himself to be a great trader.
What is this that he is trading? What shall we trade?
There is a question — several questions, actually — that the Lord asks us in the Gospel for the Cross today. He says, “What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” This is not a rhetorical question. This question has a correct answer. Actually, it has two answers that are equally correct.
One answer is that a man can give nothing to deserve salvation, nothing in exchange for his soul. Nothing is worth eternal life. There is no way he can pay God so that he will deserve salvation. That is one answer.
And then, there is another answer, which is the more important of the two, I would say. What can a man give in exchange for his own soul? His life. If a man gives his life, God — God redeems him. We don’t deserve it, we are weak, but we can give our heart to God, give our way of thinking to God, give our priorities to God, give our striving and our effort to God. Not our successes, not our abilities, because we can give nothing in exchange for our soul. We don’t have enough ability to give to God; all God wants of us is our heart, and He provides us with the ability.
And how so? St. Paul very succinctly, tersely, beautifully sums up the meaning of — the reason for — the Incarnation of God. He says “we have a great High Priest, Who has passed into the heavens,” and he goes on to say, “We have not a High Priest Which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Jesus Christ became as we are, the same stuff that we are made of, tempted in all ways as we are, and yet did not sin — and not only did He not sin, but He ascended back to His Father, in the flesh. The things which He tells us to do — and He tells us many things — we are capable of doing because He Himself fulfilled these things. He is not some unreachable, far away High Priest that we cannot identify with. He bore our weaknesses and made them strong. He bore our infirmities and healed them. Everything that He expects of us, He has already done! As a man, he has done these things. If we understand what Christ has done for us, then we will understand how we can give our life in exchange for our soul. There is nothing that we have of ourselves that is worth salvation — to be able to gaze up on our God. But Jesus Christ has made us capable.
Now, how do we go about making this exchange — this exchange of things corruptible for things incorruptible, things temporal for things eternal, things that fade away for things that endure, things that will be forgotten for eternal remembrance? How can we make this exchange, brothers and sisters? This question should be one which you are answering moment-by-moment. We make this exchange by denying ourselves, and taking up our cross, and following our Savior on the same path that He walked and the same path that the saints walked.
And how is it that you deny yourself? You deny those things that are not according to God; you deny those things that are corrupt and that will go away; but trade, trade with you will, your heart, your desire, so that you can create a great treasure in Heaven. The way of the Cross is a way of denial, it is a way many times of sorrow, and pain, but it is a way of enlightenment, and of being invigorated. Good comes out of the soul when God dwells in it, and you desire to do what is right because God dwells within you, and you can think nothing else. Denying yourself, brothers and sisters, is just denying what you already know is going to go away. If you struggle against a lustful thought, that struggle is eternal and will be remembered. If you say one kind word to someone, that will be remembered. The promotions you get, the television programs you watch, the vacations you go on, the foods you eat–all of that will be forgotten. None of that is eternal. But any good work done in the name of God is remembered and is permanent.
Brothers and sisters, in our hearts is a desire for eternal life. All men have it — that is why people want to be famous, that is why people want to leave things to their heirs, that is why people want to do something big in the world — because they have a desire for significance. But that desire for all those things is really just a perversion, a twisting, of that good desire that God has put in our heart to be permanent, to not change, to be perfected, to be whole. This is what the Christian life offers us. Have you ever wondered why at the end of this reading the Lord says “There are some that stand here that shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power?” Why does He say that? He is talking about the Cross, a little bit, and all of a sudden, almost out of the blue, He says “there are some here that will not taste of death, until they see the kingdom of God come with power.” What He is referring to is what happens right afterwards, which is: He goes up on a mountain at night, with Peter, James, and John, and He is transfigured before them, and they see Him as He is, the Uncreated Light, God — so as to show them, and therefore, through them, us, that He is reliable; the things He tells us to do, they will get us where He wants us to go, and where we should desire as well. After He came down the mountain, He looked just like any other man, and when He was on the Cross, He bled like any other man, and He felt pain like any other man, and He died like any other man. But the apostles remembered, and we should remember too, the One Who hangs on the Cross is the One Who hung the stars in the heaven. The One Who suffers on the Cross is the One Who takes away every suffering. The path that He tells us to walk, He walked Himself, and He did more so besides.
Now we understand in secular things that it is nonsensical to pay more or something than it is worth, or that it is nonsensical if there is a great bargain not to take it. Why in spiritual things do we understand the medium of exchange so poorly? Why is it that we pick things that will not last, things that will only indulge ourselves for a moment, for a season, and then they’re forgotten, they’re gone? Why do we do this? The Lord says, “What can a man give in exchange for His soul?” Nothing, and everything. Everything you do should be in exchange for your soul, brothers and sisters, not for your indulgence. Everything you do should be for your salvation. Deny those things that you know are wrong, and live for Christ.
Now, some people are frightened by Christianity, even within the Church, because they think of Christianity as only denial, self denial: “I can’t have any pleasure, I can’t have any fun.” That’s not it at all. If a person follows Christ even a little, inside their heart is such happiness that it is all they desire. Any amount of denial is inconsequential to them. Does an athlete, when he is stretching for the finish, having raced a long race, tired, with pains in his legs and in his lungs–does he care about his physical pain? When he is stretching for the finish, he only sees the victory ahead of him. Everything else is inconsequential; it matters not. For a Christian, we feel pain, things are difficult. But it should not matter. Does a woman, after her travail, regret that she went through pain? Does it matter to her when she has her baby? Not at all. If this were the case, that she had regret, everyone would have only one child. But she is willing to go through the pain again because of the love for that child.
Brothers and sisters, the Christian life is really in many ways no different than secular life. If you put effort into it, and desire, you will be rewarded. Without effort, there is no fruit. An athlete who does not train is mediocre. A scholar who does not study does not know the things that he purports to know. The big difference between the Christian life and secular life is that your efforts, if they are in denying yourself and taking up the cross, are eternal.
The taking up the cross that He is speaking of is not just to be suffering. If suffering happens, so be it. But the taking up the cross is “You, walk as I walk. I have given you an example, you follow it.” When your enemy smites you on the cheek, turn the other cheek to him also. If your adversary has taken your tunic, give him your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go with him one mile, go with him two. This is taking up the cross. The Christian life should be mostly described in terms of positives. In the Old Testament — we were speaking in the Bible study yesterday, that Jesus Christ, when He referred to the Old Testament in His sermon on the mount, He would say “you have heard it said…,” or “the ancients said….” In the old days it was said that you shalt not do this, you shalt not do this, and there were strict penalties for all these things. But when Jesus Christ came with the new revelation, with the fulfillment of the old, with the perfection of the old, which was only barely, barely seen in the old days, Jesus Christ didn’t say thou shalt not, but thou shalt. That’s what the beatitudes are — the Christian commandments.
And all the rest that Christ did showed us how to live. We are capable of it because we have a great High Priest, Who went through everything we went through, and more so besides, and was successful. The only way to appropriate this success, brothers and sisters, is to deny the things that you know in your heart are wrong, and to strive for righteousness. Only the righteous can understand righteousness, only the pure can understand purity. It is a great joy when one is pure. But you can’t understand this joy without striving for it — which means casting off things that are impure and struggling to take up your cross and live the Christian life.
I’ve told you before, I guess I’ll say it a thousand times more: the greatest heresy of our age — the greatest heresy, I believe, of the era since Christ came — is that salvation can be won without labor. What a nonsensical thing. The Lord says “take up your cross.” He will make you able to carry your cross. And in your self-denial, you will be free.
We are in the middle of the fast — a period when we are supposed to be denying ourselves. Some people look at Lent as a difficult, long ordeal. I tell you, I wish Lent lasted all the year. I’m never more at peace then during Lent. A time when things kind of settle down — I can see things a little more clearly.
Brothers and sisters, deny those things that are not of God. Struggle to take up your cross. The Great High Priest, Jesus Christ, struggled with His Cross as well, and was victorious. His Cross was much larger than ours; His Cross included our cross. He has already made us capable; He has already walked the path. All we need do is follow Him. What a glorious thing it is to be a Christian. There is no greater name, no greater honor, than to be able to suffer if need be for our Savior. May God grant you true spiritual wisdom to be able to trade that which will not endure for that which will become eternal. Amen.
[1] This sermon was transcribed from one given on the Third Sunday of Great Lent, 2002, at St Nicholas Russian Orthodox church, Dallas, Texas.
Synodikon of the 7th Oecumenical Council
“As the prophets beheld, as the Apostles have taught, as the Church has received, as the teachers have dogmatized, as the Universe has agreed, as Grace has shown forth, as Truth has revealed, as falsehood has been dissolved, as Wisdom has presented, as Christ awarded, thus we declare, thus we assert, thus we preach Christ our true God, and honor His Saints in words, in writings, in thoughts, in sacrifices, in churches, in Holy Icons; on the one hand worshiping and reverencing Christ as God and Lord; and on the other hand honoring as true servants of the same Lord of all and accordingly offering them veneration.
This is the Faith of the Apostles,
this is the Faith of the Fathers,
this is the Faith of the Orthodox,
this is the Faith which has established the Universe”.
“I worship the God who has saved me, who became material for my sake. And I do not cease to venerate the matter through which I have been saved and which is filled with divine grace”.
St. John Damascene
“I venerate every holy temple of God and everything in which God is affirmed not on account of its own nature but because it is the receptacle of divine energy.”
St. John Damascene
“It is not the nature, but the hypostasis of the person portrayed that is shown forth in the icon.”
St. Theodore Studite
“With respect to the archetype the icon abides in it, makes it visible and is venerated with it.”
St. Theodore Studite
Gabi and I have been under the weather this week. We missed church this morning but were able to see this sermon and thought it is worthwhile to see and share with you all.
OK I will finally release my secret… Here is my Prosphora recipe.
This is a Prosphora recipe I have used with great success. It is a combination of several other recipes.
Ingredients
* Bread flour – 7 cups
* Hot (~100 degrees) water – 2 3/8 cups (may take 1/8 cup more depending on flour)
* Dry Yeast – 2 1/4 tsp.
* Sea Salt – 1 pinch (Optional – most of the time I don’t even put it in or forget)
Tools
* 2 large cookie sheets
* 1 large biscuit cutter
* Prosphora stamp
* toothpick
* rolling pin
* mixing bowl
* aluminum foil or cooking parchment (parchment works best)
* 1 dry towels (regular not paper) (optional depending on the weather)
Instructions
In preparing the Prosphora, one first begins with prayer:
O Lord Jesus Christ, only-begotten Son of the Eternal Father: You have said with your holy lips: “Without me you can do nothing.” My Lord, I embrace your words with my heart and soul, and bow before your goodness and say: Help me, your unworthy servant, to prepare the bread of offering, that the works of my hands may be acceptable at the Holy Table and may become through the works of Your Holy Spirit, the communion of Your Most Pure Body for me and all Your people, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
I will say other prayers, recite Psalms 50 (51 BCP) or play Orthodox Christian Chants during the bread making
1. Set mixer on the stir cycle and add ingredients or stir ingredients together and hand kneed until your arms are tired.
2. Take out dough before the rising and powder the inside of the bowl with flour and let it rise until double the size anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes. (you can cover with the towel depending on how dry the weather is)
3. Roll dough out with rolling pin to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thickness.
4. Cut out 24 large pieces with large biscuit cutter and place 12 of them on cookie sheets that is covered with aluminum foil or cooking parchment. I put six on each cookie sheet, that way they don’t stick together.
5. Take the other 12 pieces (I dip them in water very lightly) and place them on top of the 12 pieces on the cookie sheet, then stamp them with a well floured prosphora seal.
6. Prick the prosphora seal (making the sign of the cross, then piercing the center) – make sure the toothpick is inserted through the bottom half.
7. Allow the loaves to rest (covered) for ten minutes.
8. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes at 350 to 375 (depending on oven) degrees or until lightly golden.
9. Finally, conclude your work with a short prayer of thanksgiving of your own.
Remember that this bread has not received the blessing of the Holy Spirit yet, however it is prayed for and if you make a mistake, please do not toss it in the trash. Go ahead and bake it, then feed it to the birds or other animals. Anything prayed over should not go to waste. Sometimes I will give my extra bread to my brother-in-law who is a Assembly of God pastor. He likes the Greek letters stamped in the bread and doesn’t mind if they are imperfect. Just don’t throw it away. Giving the bread to someone actually is an outreach and should be encouraged. It opens the door to tell others about our church.
In the Orthodox Church, the last Sunday before Great Lent – the day on which, at Vespers, Lent is liturgically announced and inaugurated – is called Forgiveness Sunday. On the morning of that Sunday, at the Divine Liturgy, we hear the words of Christ:
“If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses…” (Mark 6:14-15)
Then after Vespers – after hearing the announcement of Lent in the Great Prokeimenon: “Turn not away Thy face from Thy child for I am afflicted! Hear me speedily! Draw near unto my soul and deliver it!”, after making our entrance into Lenten worship, with its special memories, with the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian, with its prostrations – we ask forgiveness from each other, we perform the rite of forgiveness and reconciliation. And as we approach each other with words of reconciliation, the choir intones the Paschal hymns, filling the church with the anticipation of Paschal joy.
What is the meaning of this rite? Why is it that the Church wants us to begin Lenten season with forgiveness and reconciliation? These questions are in order because for too many people Lent means primarily, and almost exclusively, a change of diet, the compliance with ecclesiastical regulations concerning fasting. They understand fasting as an end in itself, as a “good deed” required by God and carrying in itself its merit and its reward. But, the Church spares no effort in revealing to us that fasting is but a means, one among many, towards a higher goal: the spiritual renewal of man, his return to God, true repentance and, therefore, true reconciliation. The Church spares no effort in warning us against a hypocritical and pharisaic fasting, against the reduction of religion to mere external obligations. As a Lenten hymn says:
In vain do you rejoice in no eating, O soul!
For you abstain from food,
But from passions you are not purified.
If you persevere in sin, you will perform a useless fast.
Now, forgiveness stands at the very center of Christian faith and of Christian life because Christianity itself is, above all, the religion of forgiveness. God forgives us, and His forgiveness is in Christ, His Son, Whom He sends to us, so that by sharing in His humanity we may share in His love and be truly reconciled with God. Indeed, Christianity has no other content but love. And it is primarily the renewal of that love, a return to it, a growth in it, that we seek in Great Lent, in fasting and prayer, in the entire spirit and the entire effort of that season. Thus, truly forgiveness is both the beginning of, and the proper condition for the Lenten season.
One may ask, however: Why should I perform this rite when I have no “enemies”? Why should I ask forgiveness from people who have done nothing to me, and whom I hardly know? To ask these questions, is to misunderstand the Orthodox teaching concerning forgiveness. It is true, that open enmity, personal hatred, real animosity may be absent from our life, though if we experience them, it may be easier for us to repent, for these feelings openly contradict Divine commandments. But, the Church reveals to us that there are much subtler ways of offending Divine Love. These are indifference, selfishness, lack of interest in other people, of any real concern for them — in short, that wall which we usually erect around ourselves, thinking that by being “polite” and “friendly” we fulfill God’s commandments. The rite of forgiveness is so important precisely because it makes us realize – be it only for one minute – that our entire relationship to other men is wrong, makes us experience that encounter of one child of God with another, of one person created by God with another, makes us feel that mutual “recognition” which is so terribly lacking in our cold and dehumanized world.
On that unique evening, listening to the joyful Paschal hymns we are called to make a spiritual discovery: to taste of another mode of life and relationship with people, of life whose essence is love. We can discover that always and everywhere Christ, the Divine Love Himself, stands in the midst of us, transforming our mutual alienation into brotherhood. As l advance towards the other, as the other comes to me – we begin to realize that it is Christ Who brings us together by His love for both of us.
And because we make this discovery – and because this discovery is that of the Kingdom of God itself: the Kingdom of Peace and Love, of reconciliation with God and, in Him, with all that exists – we hear the hymns of that Feast, which once a year, “opens to us the doors of Paradise.” We know why we shall fast and pray, what we shall seek during the long Lenten pilgrimage. Forgiveness Sunday: the day on which we acquire the power to make our fasting – true fasting; our effort – true effort; our reconciliation with God – true reconciliation.
Several people ask for my bread recipes, here is one of them:
What you will need:
4 cups of whole wheat flour
3 cups of bread flour
2 Tablespoons of dry yeast
1 stick of butter
1 cup of honey
3 cups of water
A few squirts of olive oil spray
Time to mix:
Pour yeast into 2 cups of warm water. Stir with a fork until smooth. Let set for about 10-15 minutes. Put on some mellow music (seriously yeast works better with smooth jazz or something mellow like Enya) and light a candle. I like Orthodox Christian chants but I don’t know if the yeast has any preference. Just don’t put on anything violent. It will not rise the way you want it to.
Squirt the inside of your mixing bowl with olive oil cooking spray. If you don’t have olive oil spray something like Pam will do but your bread will taste a little different but not too noticeable. Add both whole wheat flour and bread flour to the mixing bowl. Toss in the butter. Pour in the honey and water.
Mix the bread in a mixer with a bread hook or stir the ingredients until mixed then put flour on the counter then kneed till your arms are tired and the bread dough is of nice consistency.
Get a bowl or use your mixing bowl and squirt some more olive oil spray in the bowl covering the inside of the container. Put the dough in a bowl. Let the dough rise anywhere from 30 – 60 minutes. When the bread dough is double in size it is time to bake.
Baking the bread:
Remove the dough unto your nice counter that you splashed with flour. Roll it out and cut into two lumps of dough. Put into 2 bread pans or on a cookie sheet sprayed with olive oil and powdered with flour. (This helps with clean up unless you like scrubbing pans or cookie sheets) Shape the bread any way you want. Knots are cool. A small slice down the middle is a good touch if you are using bread pans or the classic 3 slice like you see in French bread is a classic touch too if you are using a cookie sheet.
Set your oven temperature for 375F, wait for it to heat and bake until the top turns a dark brown (about 20 minutes but keep checking because each oven is different)
Once you are done baking remove the bread from the pans or cookie sheet and let cool. Now that you have that fresh bread smell in your house it is awesome to invite a friend to share the bread with you or show the house to a potential buyer.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen[1].
