Father Timothy Robinson, Greek Orthodox Priest

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The phone rings before the Greek priest even sits down in his office, where religious pictures hang on the walls and heavy volumes of Ancient Christian Commentary line wooden shelves. It's his day off, but he answers anyway: "This is Father Tim."

The woman on the other end of the line speaks for nearly five minutes about how she cannot afford to pay her electric bill, which means she may lose the lights and heat in her home. Father Timothy Robinson listens intently.

"I understand," he tells her. "It's getting a little cold, too. We'll see if we can get you some help. Don't worry, it's OK."

He has no idea who she is or how she got his phone number, but she needs help. Hospitality, he says, is the basis of the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation in Sacramento. Founded in 1920, the church, at more than 500 families, is the oldest Greek Orthodox parish between the San Francisco Bay Area and Salt Lake City. The Orthodox Christian Church, which is usually linked with various ethnic and national titles, grew out of the East in the early centuries. The Greek word "orthodox" means "correct teaching."

Father Robinson is no typical Greek associate pastor. First of all, he's not even Greek. He often tells people that he comes from the far, far northern part of Greece, from the region around Edinburgh (the capital of Scotland). Born in Phoenix, both his parents are of Scottish descent, and Robinson was raised in a conservative Baptist church. The Greek Orthodoxy has become his "adopted culture" and has given him the spiritual sustenance he had been searching his whole life to find.
Continued...

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