March 30, 2007 - Day 40 - Favorite Hymns of Holy Week
Dear Parish Faithful,
I just received in the mail a booklet from St. Vladimir's Seminary entitled "Holy Tuesday," written by Dr. Peter Bouteneff, Assistant Professor of dogmatic theology. He begins in an engaging manner:
"As more and more people attend and thoughtfully follow the services of Holy Week, many are struck by the incomparably rich hymnography, often sung in unique and evocative melodies. Many of us have favorite hymns, which we greet as friends when they come along each year. There are landmark hymns of the Bridegroom services, repeated for several nights running. There are, of course, the unforgettable moments of Holy Thursday: "O Thy Mystical Supper!" The Twelve Gospels! Then Friday: the Burial Shroud! The Lamentations! Then Saturday and the victorious Prokeimenon! These are like lanterns, lighting our way forward in an otherwise dark terrain."
Dr. Bouteneff goes on to offer his favorite hymn of the Bridegroom Services, sung at the Aposticha at Matins and Vespers on Holy Tuesday:
This is also one of my favorite hymns from the many wonderful hymns that characterize the Bridegroom Matins. If you have a "favorite" - be it a hymn or even a particular rite from Holy Week, and if you are willing to share it with others together with a paragraph or two explaining why; I would be glad to forward it along on the parish mailing list. This could prove to be an interesting dialogue!
Fr. Steven
March 29, 2007 - Day 39 - Becoming 'Poor in Sin'
Dear Parish Faithful,
As a parish, we have gone from strength to strength this Great Lent at least in relation to the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. In the past, we have often started out well, but the lenten "law" of attrition seemed to wear us down and by the last Presanctified Liturgy only a weary, and noticeably-reduced, remnant bravely appeared by the last week of Lent - the Week of Palms. Not so this year! I believe there were more in attendance yesterday evening than even in the first week of Great Lent, and that this healthy participation was sustained throughout the weeks of the Fast. And before the evening was over yesterday, we shared yet another wonderful lenten meal together (I am going to miss the tasty hummus!) with lively fellowship in the church hall, further enlived by the presence of many children. For all of this we thank God first and foremost.
Yet, it was also a time of sober reflection or, if you like, a kind of "taking stock" of how Great Lent and our lenten effort has affected our hearts. Following "Lord, I Call Upon Thee," we chanted the following hymn:
This sticheron does not mention "breaking the fast" by eating some dairy products or - God forbid! - some meat during Great Lent. Other hymns and prayers of course exhort us to continue with perseverance in the ascetical fast. But the point of this frightening catalogue of moral and interior failings is to protect us from self-righteousness or a superficial complacency falsely grounded in our adherence to the more external aspects of the Fast. It is also meant to be applied in the form of "self-examination." Following the teachings of Christ, the best of our sacred hymns want us to explore whether or not our external actions are consistent with our internal being. We want our outward piety to reflect and manifest an interior process of purifying the heart. Otherwise, we may have to confess that we are acting like a "jerk." I am sure that that word sounds more than a little jarring in the context of this lenten meditation! That is not exactly a word that you will hear in our liturgical prayers and hymns, or for that matter, coming from me. Neither will you find it in the Scriptures. What we will hear are words such as "fool," "hypocrite," "sinner," and so on. However, we may just hear "jerk" in our daily lives - or use it ourselves about someone else - and since I came across a definition of the word that sounds as if it could have been written by a saint in defining the more biblical words mentioned above, I wanted to use it for its effect.
Some years ago a certain Sidney Harris, columnist for the Chicago Daily News, wrote that a jerk is "totally incapable of looking into the mirror of his own soul and shuddering at what he sees there." Almost like an aphorism from one of the Desert Fathers! Therefore, if any of the words in the above hymn are actually true about us, and we fail to recognize this truth due to our blindness, obtuseness or self-defensiveness; then in addition to being called a "hypocrite" we will have to bear the further burden of being a genuine "jerk" - at least according to Sidney Harris' definition. Since most of us would find that rather intolerable, the best solution would be to take a careful and searching look into the mirror of our soul and "shudder" at what we see there if, indeed, it is less than pretty. Then we can stand and knock "before the gates of repentance" and begin the process of healing, as the Lord will certainly open those gates on our behalf. This is why, paradoxical as it may sound, it is good to see one's own sins! That, in turn, is not meant to depress us - for God does not seek to depress us - but rather to activate us as demonstrated by the prodigal son who "arose and came to his father." (LK. 15:20) Truly, it is a "joy-creating sorrow," for only then can we begin to turn to God begging for forgiveness and restoration to fellowship with Him and our neighbor. We can only be free from the passions if we first recognize their presence withn us.
The remainder of the hymn I began with us is a humble plea to resemble one of the most humble - and pathetic - figures in the New Testament:
To be "poor in sin" as was Lazarus, is to be freed from sin to a great extent. Or, perhaps, to be dispassionate as the saints exhort us to strive for. No doubt it is a hard and demanding battle that requires honesty, vigilance and repentance on our part. That sure beats being a "jerk!"
Fr. Steven
March 22, 2007 - Day 32 - St Antony, Image of Sanity
Dear Parish Faithful,
Even during Great Lent when we are trying to simplify our lives to some extent, it is more than a little difficult for family members to co-ordinate their respective schedules so that some "quality time" together can be shared precisely as a family. This particular Great Lent, when we have now and then managed to do that, we have been reading The Life of Antony together. This, of course, is the life of St. Antony the Great (+356), the "father of monasticism," and this work is written by St. Athanasius the Great, Patriarch of Alexandria (+373). The life of a "great" saint being written by another "great" saint has, in this case, produced one of the great classics of Christian literature.
This is a work of hagiography, which basically means a "Life" of a saint. It is essentially a biography written with the express intention of highlighting and illuminating the sanctity of the person whose life is being described. The purpose of hagiography is more to capture the inner quality of the saint than to provide biographical information. The deeds and words of the saint are allowed to reveal the Christ-like quality of his/her life in such a way that the reader has a wonderful model to seek to emulate. In a hagiographical text, you realize that the saint being depicted has, by the grace of God, actualized the identical experience of the Apostle Paul, who wrote:
Besides narrating the key events in Antony's lengthy earthly sojourn - he lived to a be a hundred-and-five! - the Life is filled with many long discourses so that we hear the voice of a real teacher imparting wisdom to his disciples and to those who will later read his recorded words. Just the other night, a short and seemingly "typical" passage struck us for its simplicity and clarity. With a few words and the Scriptures as his source of wisdom, St. Antony offers what we today could term a short treatise about our own lenten effort and how that should extend into a way of life at all times:
When you read this passage in its appropriate place in the Life, you can sense the years of battling demons and the passions and the steady accumulation of the virtues ultimately leading to purity of heart, behind these simple precepts. In another summary passage by St. Athanasius of the holy man's teaching tohis disciples, we hear of self-examination and judgement:
Even though a severe desert ascetic, or perhaps because of that, St. Antony has always seemed to me the image of sanity and serenity. He is truly gentle, humble, wise and Christ-like. His voice from the faraway place of the Egyptian desert and the faraway time and culture of the world of fourth century late antiquity, is as sonorous today with the words of eternal life as when he spoke them while still in the flesh. From his heavenly mansion he nows adds his even more effective intercessory prayer to his words of truth.
Fr. Steven
March 16, 2007 - Day 26 - Making Good Use of the Days to Come
Dear Parish Faithful,
At the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts on Wednesday evening, we chanted the follow hymn called an Idiomelon:
Wednesday was the precise midpoint between the first day of Great Lent and Pascha Sunday, so now we have begun the second half of these "all-revered days of the fast." On the one hand, we may by now be rather tired of it all, and from this point on more-or-less go through the motions until Pascha arrives. What we initially embraced with enthusiasm, we may now simply endure with indifference. We can even find something good in this: we are forced to come to terms with our human weakness and in the process learn humility. Only three-and-a-half weeks, and our hands are drooping and our knees are wobbling! (HEB. 12:12) Again, that is humbling. As the hymn above stated, the Lord not only fasted for the entire forty days, but He then endured the Cross. He is always the Prototype and Sustainer of our efforts. To return to the passage in Hebrews, here is the full exhortation that we find there:
Yet, on the other hand, if our liturgical participation is any indication, we are still going strong at the midpoint. We had more people than ever at last Friday evening's Akathist Hymn and another very large group at the Presanctified Liturgy on Wednesday. These Wednesday evenings have been truly remarkable up to this point and genuine parish "events" of worship and fellowship. So far no signs of "wimping out!" Since we are a body or a family, this serves to encourage one another and give us all a greater sense of purpose and commitment. In certain matters, there is strength in numbers.
I hope, then, that the second half of Great Lent is as eagerly embraced as has been the first half on the parish level. And may the same be true for your domestic and personal efforts. I frurther hope that those of you that have not been present at the lenten services will yet avail yourselves of the riches of the Church's liturgical life. There is plenty of time to make that possible.
This evening we will sing and chant the fourth part of the Akathiist Hymn to the Theotokos beginning at 7:00 p.m.
Tomorrow morning, the Liturgy for this Memorial Saturday will begin at 9:30 A.M.
In Christ,
Fr. Steven
March 15, 2007 - Day 25 - Death is filled with Unconquerable Life
Dear Parish Faithful,
I received a larger response than usual to my Monday Morning Meditation that concentrated on the meaning of the death of Christ - the various "atonement" theories that you may encounter through the spoken or written word. Be that as it may, I simply wanted to add, as a short addendum, two compact but theologically "packed" passages from St. Gregory the Theologian (author of the long excerpt included in Monday's meditation criticizing the notion that the devil could "demand" a ransom paid to him; or that God the Father would "demand" the ransom of His Son's blood in order to fufill some sort of legalistic transaction). in these short, almost aphoristic-type statements, St. Gregory is stressing the life-giving and renewing aspects of the death of Christ:
"It was necessary for us that God should be incarnate and die that we might live again." (Or. 45, c. 28)
"Nothing can be compared with the miracle of my salvation: a few drops of blood re-make the whole universe." (Or. 45, c. 29)
From a contemporary Orthodox theologian, Fr. Thomas Hopko, we read an excellent summation of the Orthodox teaching about the "ransom" paid on our behalf by Christ in order to secure our salvation:
"In Orthodox theology generally it can be said that the language of "payment" and "ransom" is rather understood as a metaphorical and symbolical way of saying that Christ has done all things necessary to save and to redeem mankind enslaved to the devil, sin and death, and under the wrath of God.... He "paid the price" to create the conditions in and through which man might receive the forgiveness of sins and eternal life by dying and rising again in Him to newness of life." (THE ORTHODOX FAITH, Vol. I, Doctrine, p. 98)
Jesus is for us, as Orthodox Christians, the "Destroyer of Death." Here is one final passage, also from Fr. Hopko, that vividly reminds us that salvation is not only from something - namely, sin and death - but all for something - life abundant in the Kingdom of God:
"The death of Christ transforms death into an act of life, even eternal life. Death itself dies, for it could not defeat Life Itself which was under no constraint to die. Death is filled with Unconquerable Life, and becomes the passage to Paradise."
________
On the Memorial Saturday Liturgies
Speaking of "death and dying" and the victory of Christ over death, we will serve the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom on Saturday morning at 9:30 A.M. Memorial Saturdays are also known popularly as "Soul Saturdays." Three such Memorial Saturdays are designated for Great Lent: the second, third and fourth. During the Liturgy and afterwards in a separate Memorial Service, we call to mind the names of our beloved who have "departed in the hope of resurrection to eternal life in Thy communion, O Thou who lovest mankind." We pray for the dead, because it is our hope that the "dead" are "alive" in Christ. As the Apostle Paul wrote: "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life ... shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (ROM. 8:38-39) Our prayers for the departed are offered in the hope of their "resting" in Christ; and in the assurance that death is no longer an inseperable boundary between them and us. That is why we seek the intercessions of those who have been revealed as glorified saints to the Church. We know that they pray for us before the throne of God, beginning with the Theotokos Herself. Saturday is the day of which the Son of God enjoyed His sabbath rest in the tomb, but an active and dynamic "rest" during which He "trampled on death by death." Thus, the Blessed and Holy Sabbath (Holy Saturday) is the basis and prototype of the Memorial Saturdays of the liturgical year.
A tradition/custom that Orthodox Christians have been observing since time immemorial is to prepare a boiled and sweetened wheat, called kolyva, which is then blessed and shared following the memorial service. An excellent description and explanation of the meaning of the kolyva can be found in the Synaxarion:
"Offering kolyva at the memorial services is a practice which can be traced to the middle of the fourth century. In earlier times, bread and wine with olives, cheese or rice were offered in charity, and those who partook of them would pray, "blessed be his memory." This is why in the Greek Orthodox tradition, these funeral meals are called Makaria, of Blessings. A continuation of this ancient custom are the luncheons and light refreshments offered today by the relatives or the deceased to those who prayed with them at the Memorial Services
Kolyva is wheat or rice cooked with honey or sugar sometimes mixed with figs, raisins, nuts and other sweets. The grain and fruit brought to the commemoration of the dead signifies that the dead will truly rise again from the grave, for both grain, which is sown in the earth, and fruit, which is laid on the earth, decays first and afterwards brings forth abundant ripe, whole fruit. The honey or sugar used in the kolyva signifies that after the resurrection of the Orthodox and the righteous, there awaits a joyous and blessed life in the Heavenly Kingdom and not a bitter or sorrowful one. The kolyva prepared from grain expresses the faith of the living in the resurrection of the dead to a better life, just as that seed, having fallen upon the ground, although undergoing corruption, yet grows to attain a better appearance."
Again, the Liturgy for this upcoming Memorial Saturday will begin at 9:30 A.M. The names of the non-Orthodox may be submitted as on our prayer sheets found on the candlestand. I do ask that they be baptized Christians.
For those who bring kolyva, bread, wine or any other food, we will bless all of this during the memorial service that will follow the Liturgy. We can then share some of the blessed kolyva together in the church.
__________
Fr. Steven
March 12, 2007 - Day 22 - Why The Cross?
Dear Parish Faithful,
Over the centuries a particular theory developed in the West as to why Christ had to die on the Cross for our salvation. It is now often referred to as the penal satisfaction theory, and it is traced back to St. Anselm of Canterbury (11th c.). As an early scholastic theologian, Anselm was trying to rationally explain the mystery of our redemption in Christ. The Orthodox theologian, Vladimir Lossky, critical of this theory, describes it thus in speaking of Anselm:
This was later further distorted by many of the Protestant refomers who claimed that God was angry with us and that Christ had to "appease" or "propitiate" Him by His blood. Hence, Jonathon Edward's "sinners in the hands of an angry God." The rich imagery of the Scriptures is unfortunately narrowed down to a very legalistic understanding of redemption in Christ. As Lossky further probes this theory, he reveals its many shortcomings:
There are further "casualties" in this narrowly-focused atonement theory, according to Lossky:
Too great a price to pay for a rationalistic theology! Only now, are both Roman Catholic and Protestants taking a serious and critical look at this particular theory of atonement.
The early Church, following the Scriptures, emphasized the victory of Christ over sin, death and the devil in His Cross and Resurrection. He truly "trampled down death by death." The Church Fathers, beginning with St. Irenaeus of Lyons, were very expressive in their formulation of this aspect of our redemption. So you will not find the "satisfaction theory" in their writings. The language of Scripture is meant to provide a series of images and metaphors that help us understand our redemption in Christ without falling prey to a narrowly-focused rationalism or legalism. "Justification," "salvation," "atonement," "expiation," "ransom," "reconciliation," "sanctification," "glorification," "freedom" - these are the many terms borrowed from both the Old Testament and from the Graeco-Roman world to convey the great "mystery of piety." These images are the many sides of a beautiful diamond that must be viewed from different angles for its true beauty and brilliance to be appreciated.
Ransom is another term that can be misapplied if one is overly-literalistic, or again legalistic, in its application. The following passage from St. Gregory the Theologian is probably the "classic" Orthodox response to any misunderstanding about the use of "ransom" language when referring to the death of Christ. This passage demands a very careful reading, if not multiple readings, to draw out the rich insights of St. Gregory. Basically, he is making it clear that the "ransom" offered by Christ was "paid" neither to the devil nor to God the Father:
Lossky comments on this passage, thus:
The key concept here is the "dispensation" or "divine economy" (from the Gk. oikonomia or God's "household management"). The Son of God must offer His life as a sacrifice in fulfilment of the Father's will, by the power of the Holy Spirit, in order for God's design or saving plan for us to be realized - the abolition of the power of sin and death over us. This is powerfully stated in the Epistle to the Hebrews:
We are not sinners in the hands of an angry God, but sinners in the hands of a loving God: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son ... (JN. 3:16) Yet, there is not a drop of sentimentality in this divine love for us. As St. Paul says: "For you were bought at a price," meaning the "cost" to God in willing His Son to die on our behalf. God's saving dispensation includes not only our forgivess of sins, but also our glorification with Christ in the Kingdom of Heaven. That is why we never really separate the Cross from the Resurrection and Ascension. There is one unified paschal mystery. Christ is vanquishing sin and death on the Cross: "I call Him King, because I see Him crucified" says St. John Chrysostom. Of course, our sins are forgiven on the Cross because God desired them to be wiped out. That is the true meaning of Christ as our "expiation." The Cross is the "Mercy Seat" (Gk. hilasterion) on which are sins are wiped away by God, thus revealing His righteousness by restoring us by His faifhfulness to His covenental love.
We know that we are "saved" by the death and resurrection of Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We have been "ransomed" back from slavery to sin and death, because He "paid the price" on our behalf. This fulfilled the love of God for us, and did satisfy a non-existent "wrath" that needed to be appeased. We accept this in faith, without trying to overly penetrate the "mystery of piety." Let us venerate the mystery in silence as St. Gregory teaches us.
Fr. Steven
March 9, 2007 - Day 19 - Of Orthodox Missions and OCMC
Dear Parish Faithful,
I clearly recall sharing the findings of the scholar Philip Jenkins with the parish in one of our post-Liturgy discussions in the Fall. Findings from his fascinating book The Next Christendom - The Coming of Global Christianity. One of many reviewers said of this book: "Meticulously researched ... a wake-up call for northern Christians." The significance of this book is summarized by the title of Chapter One: "The Christian Revolution;" and the book's opening sentence: "We are currently living through one of the transforming moments in the history of religion worldwide." (p. 1) This "revolution" and "transforming moment" is then revealed a bit further on: "Over the last century ... the center of gravity in the Christian world has shifted inexorably southward, to Africa and Latin America." (p. 1) The remainder of the book details this shift in fascinating detail that proves to be quite convincing.
To summarize briefly, based upon some of his observation and data from the opening chapter of the book:
"In 1950 a list of the world's leading Christian countries would have included Britian, France, Spain, and Italy, but none of these names will be represented in a corresponding list for 2050. In 1900 Europe was home to two-thirds of the world's Christian population; today, the figure is less than a quarter, and by 2025 it will fall below 20 percent." (p. 2)
Presently, Jenkins gives us the following statistics about the whereabouts of Christian populations in the world, from the respected Center for the Study of Global Christianity:
There are about 2.1 billion Christians in the world, about one-third of the world's total population.
Jenkins has studied "long-term trends," such as Africa's Christian population growing at around 2.36 annually, "which would lead us to project a doubling of the continent's "Christian population in less than thirty years." (p. 2) He then writes: "Assuming no great gains or losses through conversion, then there would be around 2.6 billion Christians, (in 2025) of whom 595 million would live in Africa, 623 million in Latin America, and 498 million in Asia. Europe with 513 million, would have slipped to third place. Africa and Latin America would thus be in competition for the title of most Christian continent." (p. 2-3) He then writes what could prove to be unsettling to some, though certainly not me: "By 2050 only about one-fifth of the world's three billion Christians will be non-Hispanic whites. Soon, the phrase "a white Christian" may sound like a curious oxymoron, as mildly surprising as "a Swedish Buddhist." Such people can exist, but a slight eccentricity is implied." (p. 3) That last statement may be something of a rhetorical exaggeration, but his point is made in the process.
My insignifcant comment on all of this is simply: so be it. Europeans and North Americans have had their opportunities through the centuries, and in many ways have created tremendous Christian cultures with many theological and artistic works of an enduring quality. A Christian worldview has led a countless number of person toward the Kingdom of God. And there still remain millions of Christians being nourished on that legacy and struggling to uphold it in faithfulness to Christ. However, these cultures or "civilizations" are crumbling due to a variety of reasons, and now God is allowing the Gospel to go elsewhere, to "where He's wanted" according to one observer.
Jenkins claims that North American and European scholars with perhaps an exception or two have completely ignored this trend and its implications. Here is a telling example: "When the popular evangelical magazine Christian History listed the "hundred most important events in Church history," the only mention of Africa, Asis, or Latin America occurred in reference to the British abolition of the slave trade. Missing from this top hundred was church growth in modern Africa, where the number of Christians increased, staggeringly, from 10 milion in 1900 to 360 million by 2000. If that growth does not represent the largest quantative change in the whole of religious history, I am at a los to think of a rival." (p. 4)
Jenkins challenges a certain scholarly consensus that predicts that Islam will replace Christianity as the most predominant world religion in terms of sheer adherents. After offering his reasons for rejecting this prediction - a major one being the virtual population explosion in certain African countries among Christians - he writes: "But far from Islam being the world's largest religion by 2020 or so ... Christianity should still have a substantial lead, and will maintain its position into the forseeable future. By 2050 there will still be about three Christians for every two Muslims worldwide. Some 34 percent of the world's people will then be Christian, roughly what the figure was at the height of European world hegemony in 1900." (p. 5-6)
This may not be the usual stuff of a lenten meditation, but we need to ask ourselves what is the role of Orthodox Christianity in this expansion? On the surface it is not very promising - especailly in Latin America and Asia - where there are hardly any Orthodox in comparison to Roman Catholics and Protestants. As an example: on the one hand, in Guatemala, the only practicing Orthodox that I am aware of are the "abandoned, abused, and orphaned children" recently baptized at the Hogar, together with their handful of caretakers! On the other hand, during my many recent trips to Guatmeala since 2003, I have noticed a fairly explosive growth of charismatic-style Protestant communities now contending with the traditional Roman Catholic population, together with mosques now becoming a part of the landscape, at least in Guatemala City. I do believe that we have our share of growing and vibrant communities in Africa, though perhaps relatively modest in size. Unfortunately, I do not have any statistics before me at the moment.
All of this increases the importance of the OCMC and our need to strongly support that organization's missionary activity. We lag way behind the Roman Catholic Church and the various Protestant churches in not only financial resources, but in organizational and structural effectiveness in terms of missionary activity. The OCMC is trying to address that imbalance and (re)begin the process of Orthodox missionary work. We have a splendid history of missionary activity - the Slavs were converted to Orthodox Christianity by Byzantine missionaries; and, of course, there is the mission to North America via Alaska through the efforts of such great Saints as Herman and Innocent, to give two significant examples. I hate to make this sound "competitive," but if we don't "wake up" to what is going on in the world and act accordingly, then the size of the Orthodox Church will shrink, while others are reaping a harvest of souls come to Christ. The world will "pass us by," so to speak. Demographically, traditional Orthodox countries throughout the Balkans and Russia are facing declining populations because of stagnant and even decreasing birth rates. Positively, mission is based upon the imperative of the Gospel.
Thinking out our lenten collection this year on behalf of the OCMC, I arrive at the following projections: Realizing that some can give more and some less, I find it perfectly realistic to believe that as a parish we could average between $50-$100 per household. With about 60 "pledging units" in the parish, that amounts to a minimum of $3,000 and a maximum of $6,000! I realize that that is unlikely to happen. Perhaps some of you have already designated a different charitable organization for practicing lenten charity. Perhaps you have decided to donate to local/domestic missionary activity. (We have some money already collected by way of donation to the parish that we will eventually distribute to local mission needs through our diocese). Those are two possible alternatives. However, if that is not the case, please give deep consideration to what I have written above based on Jenkin's book, and more importantly on your commitment to see the Gospel spread in the fulness of its Orthodox Christian expression.
As North Americans we are blessed with the material capacity to support our missionaries around the globe and their dedication and sacrifice for the sake of the Gospel. These folks are working hard and sacrificing a great deal - home and security to begin with - in order that we, as Orthodox Christians, can fulfill the Lord's words to "make disciples of all nations," and to take our place in this new global trend to extend the Gospel throughout the world. At a time when our trust has been eroded in some of our ecclesiastical institutions, I feel confident that we can trust the OCMC with the responsible use and distribution of our donations. Great Lent combines prayer, fasting and almsgiving if it is to be approached holistically.
By the way, I would imagine that the book by Jenkins is readily available in our major area bookstores. That is where I picked up my copy. It is only $15.00 in the paperback edition.
Fr. Steven
March 7, 2007 - Day 17 - Our Life in a Day
Dear Parish Faithful,
Tonight we again celebrate the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts at 6:00 p.m. for the Third Week of Great Lent. Our attendance at the first two of these services was excellent and we hope to continue in that spirit for this evening and the remaining weeks of Great Lent. We have also shared wonderful lenten meals following the service, allowing us some time for Christian fellowship. And we will continue with that practice this evening. It is good to see many people returning from week to week, but it would also be a cause of rejoicing for others of you to join us in this experience of the Church's lenten worship. Perhaps a brief meditation upon the spiritual depths of the Liturgy of the Presanctifed Liturgy will serve to encourage even greater participation.
There is perhaps no day in our liturgical cycle that serves to encapsulate our entire life so meaningfully as the day on which we prepare to receive the Presanctifed Gifts. As you know, we do not celebrate the Liturgy during the weekdays of Great Lent (Annunciation would be the only exception on March 25), for the festal nature of the Liturgy is not seen to be compatible with the "bright sadness" of the lenten season, especially on the weekdays of the Great Fast. Yet, God does not leave us bereft of consolation and strengthening, as He did not abandon the Israelites as they sojourned through the desert for forty years. As Israel was miraculously provided with manna in the wilderness, so as to sustain the bodies and souls of all the people; so the Lord provides us with the "manna" of the Eucharist, the true heavenly bread that is Christ Himself. (JN. 6:30-59)
Therefore, from a point early on in the day we begin to fast with the express goal of receiving Holy Communion in the early evening as the "manna" that will strengthen us as we continue to journey through the "desert" of the Fast. Hopefully, we are able to pray during the day, so we are thus praying and fasting as we await to encounter the Lord in the Eucharist. In and through the Eucharist, we have Christ dweling in us and we are united one to another as members of His Body. Surely, it is "worth" the effort and the wait! As the day is swallowed up in darkness and we are gathered together in the church, we sing "O Gladsome Light!," for Christ is the "Light of the world" that dispels the darkness of sin and igorance. He is the Light that "illuminates all" and we humbly prostrate ourselves in recognition of this. For the darkness of the world cannot "comprehend" or "overcome" the Light. (JN. 1:5)
On one level we pass our entire lives in prayer and fasting in anticipation of our ultimate encounter with Christ. Our lives can be filled with darkness from various sources - tragedies to our own sinfulness - but all is made meaningful in the end in the eternal presence of Christ. This day of the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is thus a "microcosm" of our entire life's journey to the Kingdom of God where we will meet Christ and enter into the glorious light of His presence, where not only is there no longer any darkness, but neither "sickness, nor sorrow nor sighing, but life everlasting." No matter how tired or hungry we may be throughout the day, we realize that our rest and our nourishment is only possible in Christ. The "food" that will first enter our system and thus satisfy our hunger is Christ. So it is with our lives - the "rest" we await is with Christ after a life of much toil and struggle in the Kingdom of God, where the eternal banquest is prepared for us.
The Presanctified Liturgy is thus the embodiment, summary, encapsulation, microcosm and sign of our Christian existence in this world and in the world to come. Truly a blessed day that affords us the opportunity of anticipating that future reality that
Hope to see you there! Our lenten meal will follow the service immediately.
Fr. Steven
March 5, 2007 - Day 15 - Cultivating the Virtues
Dear Parish Faithful,
I am sure that everyone who uses the term "values" today, as in "family values," means well. It is usually shorthand for the acceptance of a "Judeo-Christian" morality, which leaves a good deal of space for different groups and their particular emphases. It is also meant to signify an entrenchment against a morally-loose and ethically relativist society when that "liberal" attitude threatens us with moral chaos and confusion. However, after awhile now, "values" is beginning to sound a bit vague and unfocused.
The term with a much longer history and tradition behind it would be the "virtues." The Church Fathers, coming out of and respecting the better elements of the Greek philosophical world of their upbringing and education, developed a very profound teaching concerning the Christian "cultivation of the virtues," and how that strengthened the moral/ethical teaching of the Gospels. "Acquiring the divine virtues" (St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain) would be to acquire such character traits as inner strength, patience, humility, self-control, courage, trust, loyalty, perseverance and love - to name a few.
Reading a bit about this recently, I am simply passing on a few random comments from the ancient wisdom of the Church through some of its more well-known representatives:
"As we have five senses and they are all necessary, so also we need to have all the virtues.... One virtue does not entitle us to stand with boldness before Christ; we need them all in all of their variety and magnitude." (St. John Chrysostom)
"All other possessions do not really belong to the one who has them or to the one who has acquired them for they are exchanged back and forth like a game of dice. Only virtue among our possessions cannot be taken away, but remains with us when we live and when we die." (St. Basil the Great)
"After the habit is acquired the virtues are then practiced for their delight, for the first acts of virtue have no joy, when they are done with strain and difficulties until the habit is established. These first acts of virtue may be likened to the planting of a tree. The habit of virtues may be likened to the tree that has taken root and has blossomed. The acts of virtue that follow after the habit is established are likened to the tree bearing fruit." (St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain)
"Both the virtues and the evils blind the mind; the virtues blind us from seeing the evils and the evils from seeing the virtues." (Evagrios of Pontus)
Fr. Steven
March 1, 2007 - Day 11 - The True and Holistic Fast
Dear Parish Faithful,
Great Lent is a time for fasting - a practice we seem struggle with the very moment we desire to embrace it with the best of intentions. For the simple reason that fasting takes us out of our "comfort zone" and into the challenging realm of self-discipline. For we live in a culture that only accepts self-discipline - reluctantly at that - if it involves our health ("doctor's orders") or our looks ("younger and healthier"). Fasting for "spiritual" or "religious" reasons is almost "counter-cultural!" And that in itself can be a good thing. Yet, because the practice of fasting involves our most basic needs and desires - our food and drink - it has a way of becoming our most prominent concern during Great Lent. We may find ourselves constantly reflecting at home, the store, in public: "No, I can't eat that, or I can't buy that," and so on. Yet, if we are not more expansive in our understanding of what Great Lent is meant to be; or if we are not vigilant about the entirety of our lives before God, then our one-sided concentration on fasting can undermine our lenten effort! Such a narrow focus can make us "twice as much a child of hell" (MATT. 23:15) if we neglect the words of our Lord: "Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice'." (MATT. 9:13; HOS. 6:6) Fasting is not only important, but essential, to a Christian way of life because we are a psychosomatic unity of soul and body. But it is only a means or a tool or even a "weapon" that we take up in order to attain our goal of drawing near/returning to God with purity of heart. Fasting is thus not some kind of self-contained or isolated practice done for its own sake. There must be a much "bigger picture" in mind to make any sense out of our ascetical efforts.
As much as our spiritual Tradition encourages us to take up the practice of fasting, it is also filled with further admonitions that give a Godly context to our asceticism, a context meant to decisively direct us away from a self-centered and thus self-defeating "spirituality:"
This particular hymn seems to be a summary of the prophetic word found in the Book of Isaiah, when the Lord speaks to Israel - and to us today - through the prophet called by one of the Church Fathers "the fifth evangelist." In Ch. 58 of the Book of Isaiah, the Lord God seems to be quite impatient with the piety of Israel, a piety that includes the practice of fasting. His words are chastising and stinging for those devoid of mercy:
So much for the pretense of piety through fasting emptied of all content! The Lord God provides this as the prophet continues speaking His word:
Now the Lord will speak in profoundly comforting words, meant for those who in repentance sincerely respond to this challenge:
Consolation always follows chastisement in the prophets. But heeding the words of the prophet is essential to experiencing that consolation. Does this somehow question the very validity of our fasting efforts? Does this justify "trading in" our fasting by replacing it with "good deeds?" That would be to misinterpret the Scriptures and our entire spiritual tradition! (For an excellent explanation of fasting see the article "Why Do We Stilll Fast?" by Fr. John Breck). The words of the prophet Isaiah, those of our Lord in the Gospels, and those of our liturgical tradition and the saints to follow, are meant to guide us to a holistic approach that embraces soul and body, and which is ultimately directed toward God and neighbor. If we can learn a bit more mercy (beginning within our familes?!) and practice it during Great Lent, then we may be properly focusing our ascetical efforts in obedience to God's will for us and for our relationship to Him, to the world and to our neighbor. As we pray during every Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts during Great Lent:
Fr. Steven
February 28, 2007 - Day 10 - A Little Athonite Paterikon, Volume 2
Dear Parish Faithful,
A bit more from the Athonite Paterikon, taken from Hieromonk Alexander Golitzin's book, The Living Witness of the Holy Mountain:
Father Tikhon of Kapsala (+1968)
Father Tikhon came from Russia to the Holy Mountain in 1918. His great love for hesychia (quiet), and for asceticism led him to the formidable area of Karoulia, where there lived at this time a grreat number of Russian ascetics. He stayed there for fifteen years, in a cave above the sea. Subsequently, he moved to Kapsala, not far from the monastery of Stavronikita.
By his asceticism, together with a great humility, he acquired the gift of unceasing prayer, even during his sleep. "Whenever one prays," he used to say, "the prayer must unite with the heart just like you join two different things together with glue."
He would also say: "Before beginning any activity, you have to pray to God, saying: 'My God, give me strength and enlighten me,' and at the end: 'Glory to God'."
When Father Tikhon celebrated the holy Liturgy in the chapel of his hermitage, he would often interrupt himself at the moment of the Great Entrance during the Cherubic Hymn. He would then ask the monk who served as his chanter to leave, and, entering into ecstasy, become a stranger to everything earthly. At the end of a half hour, realizing he had interrupted the Liturgy, he would take up again - very slowly - the celebration. It thus required two to three hours for him to complete it. When someone asked him what had happened, he would answer in his bad Greek:
"Guardian angel take me above ... Guardian angel take me back down again ..."
"And what did you see?"
"Angels, Archangels, Cherubim, Seraphim ... Heavenly choir ... thousands ... ten thousands ..."
February 26, 2007 - Day 8 - A Little Athonite Paterikon, Volume 1
Dear Parish Faithful,
This morning, I would simply like to pass on a few fascinating stories, anecdotes, and saying from the "Holy Mountain." This, of course, refers to Mt. Athos, a republic of monasteries that has been at the heart and center of the Orthodox world for over a millenium now. The Holy Mountain is a peninsula that juts out into the Aegean Sea off the northeast coast of Greece, the property of the monasteries covering the last twenty of its thirty-five mile length. The claim is that the setting is of an incomparable and breathtaking beauty - a veritable paradise that is piously referred to as the "garden of the Theotokos," the "abbess" of the entire peninsula. Mt. Athos has experienced a remarkable rebirth of its own over the last generation or so, with many young, and highly-educated young men pursuing the monastic vocation on this isolated paradise far from the world and its distractions. The Holy Mountain seems to be in its own "time zone" - in this unique case that of timelessness!
In an excellent book entitled The Living Witness of the Holy Mountain, the author, Hieromonk Alexander Golitzin, who has spent substantial time on Mt. Athos, has a chapter called "A Contemporary Athonite Paterikon." This refers to the collection of material I mentioned above as emenating from the "holy fathers" of Mt. Athos. He begins this portion of his book, with a fine description of the "atmosphere" of the Holy Mountain:
During the course of Great Lent, I would like to periodically pass on some of these marvelous sayings and stories collected in Hieromonk Alexander's book, to remind us of the "otherworldliness" of the Church, where God and the angels speak to human beings who have been purified - or are in the process of purifying their hearts according to the Lord's teaching: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
Fr. Steven
Father Philaretos of Constamonitou (+1965)
During the afternoon, he had the habit of taking a walk to the neighboring hermitage of the Holy Trinity in order to light the vigil lamps there. From spring to autumn he would be accompanied by a pair of swallows who had attached themselves to him. One day, as he was seated by the hermitage and saying the Jesus Prayer, he slipped imperceptibly into sleep. Suddenly, he was awakened by the blows of the sharp beak of one of the swallows. He opened his eyes and saw a viper which had climbed up his leg and reached his chest. God had thus saved him through the intermediary of his friends, the birds.
Father G------- of the "Desert" of the South
One winter, this old man fell ill and found himself completely isolated. When someone knocked at his door, he didn't answer. The fathers of the neighborhood grew uneasy, and one of them forced the old man's door. He was expecting to find him dead. Instead, he found him quite alive, though lying down.
"Give me your blessing, Father. How are you? I've come to see you." The old man answered with a tone of affliction:
"Oh my dear, how much better it would have been if you had not come! As soon as you came in, you chased away the angel. That's why I wasn't opening the door to anyone."
Father Augustine the Russian (+1965)
He had a great love for every man, and every time he met anyone - whether monk or layman - he would make him a deep bow. "He carries the grace of Holy Baptism," he would say whenever someone asked why he did this.
At night, he had no need of a kerosene lamp. "God gives me another light," he used to say, "and I can see more clearly than during the day." In his simplicity, he believed that everyone could see, just like he could, the uncreated light of God.
When he was bedridden in the infirmary, he used often to shout: "The holy angels are coming, there! there! Don't you see them?" And he would wake up the elderly monks sleeping next to him and shake them. Then, a little later: "The saints are here! The All-Holy Mother of God!" And he would again awaken the other invalids. The infirmarian used to reprimand him severely, saying, "Won't you stop this? You're deluded. Who is someone like you that the saints should come visit you?" Every day it was like this. When Father Augustine finally passed away, his face suddenly lit up, blindingly, three times. The infirmarian then understood his error, and exclaimed: "Now, I am sure this one was a saint!"
February 23, 2007 - First Friday of the Fast:
Dear Parish Faithful,
We will celebrate our first Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts this evening at 6:00 p.m. Following the service, we will share a pot-luck lenten meal together in the church hall. If you plan on staying, it would be appreciated if you could offer something as part of the meal - food or beverage. About our preparation for receiving the Eucharist, Fr. Thomas Hopko writes the following:
For tbose who need to, perhaps we could extend the "early morning hours of the day" from above to no later than noontime. Yet, what is the purpose and meaning of such an ascetical effort? Are we simply following "rules" that are meant to impose a hardship upon us? In a fine, concluding paragraph to his introduction to this service, Fr. Hopko discloses a good deal of that purpose and meaning in the following manner:
It would be wonderful to have a church filled with worshippers at this first of our Presanctified Liturgies!
_____
On the Liturgy of St Basil the Great:
This Sunday we begin to use the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great. The booklets for those who would like to use them will be made available, either on the candlestand in the back of the nave, or up in front resting on the barrier before the first pew. The lengthy prayers of St. Basil's Liturgy express the entire theological belief of the Church as no others do. The entire divine oikonomia (dispensation) of Creation, Fall, Redemption and Kingdom is magnificently expressed by our Father among the saints, Basil of Caeserea (+379). An attentive concentration on these prayers will yield manifold fruit for the heart and soul.
_____
Lenten Food Drive:
We will begin collecting your donations of food and other household items for our Lenten Food Drive this Sunday. The collection bins will be up on the stage as in the past. We will distribute items from the church and others we will take over to one of Norwood's main social services locations on Sherman Ave. We have had neighborhood folks calling and requesting some assistance, so hopefully we will have something in store by next week.
_____
New Feature of our Website:
I urge everyone to go to our parish website and take a careful look at a new feature posted there: Great Lent - Resources for the Journey. Our webmaster has put together an excellent collection of high-quality resources and links. Everyone should read the opening excerpt on the "Bright Sadness" of Great Lent by Fr. Alexander Schmemann. Have you chosen your lenten reading yet? Hopefully you have and you are already reading. If not for some reason or other, than many excellent choices are posted there on our site. Some of these books are available in our parish library; others can be ordered and delivered fairly quickly. Great Lent has just started, so there is plenty of time to pick out a good book and make a point of reading it! If you would like some assistance in a choice, then please contact me.
Also, if you ever have the desire to catch up with the weekly meditations, they are also all included on our site chronologically.
_____
While we are in the church:
Someone sent along this note: "I wanted to mention to you about the pieces of Prosphoro on the ground leading to the Sunday School classes on Sundays. I know some of the children take a few pieces and they may slip through their fingers onto the floor. We try to get all the pieces and crumbs, but maybe a reminder about how Prosphoro should be "handled" is needed."
A good point. The prosphoro, or antidoron, is the blessed bread or loaf (called prosphoro in Greek) from which the Lamb consecrated during the Liturgy is taken from. The remainder of the loaf is then cut up and taken after we receive Holy Communion as we "break the fast;" and distributed as antidoron - meaning "in place of the Gifts" - at the veneration of the Cross. Parents, remind your children to take care of their prosphoro with care and reverence - as we do all things in the church - and to watch for spilling crumbs along the ground. Obviously, that is unavoidable to some extent - it also happens with adults! - but an awareness can keep it to a minimum.
_____
On Archbishop Job:
I received the following communication from our Diocesan Center:
"On Thursday morning (last week's Thursday, I assume) as Archbishop Job began to drive back to Chicago his windshield was hit and shattered by ice which flew off a tractor-trailer. The windshield stayed in place but was fractured into a million pieces. His Eminence is okay, although he was certainly shaken-up by the incident."
We are glad to hear that no harm came to Archbishop Job!
Fr. Steven
February 22, 2007 - Day 4 - Repentance Brings Joy
Dear Parish Faithful,
On Monday evening, we began the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete with the following compunctionate troparion:
In this Great Canon of Repentance, St. Andrew exhorts us to "mourn" our many sins. This recalls one of the Lord's Beatitudes: "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." (MT. 5:4) "Blessed mourning" begins with our own sins that keep us away from God and continues in mourning for the sins of the world that bring endless misery to countless human lives. These sins are personal, social, institutional, etc. Great Lent begins with the essential reminder that only through blessed mourning can we begin to display the first-fruits of repentance. The Great Canon, though, is realistic about some of our choices in life and how we are easily distracted from the ways of God. St. Andrew knows how life can seemingly slip by as we find ourselves immersed in empty pursuits:
The ultimate "wake up call" from this dreadful condition is expressed every evening in the kontakion, a truth so clear (or frightening?) that we often remain blind to it:
By drawing on images from both the Old and New Testaments, St. Andrew places us within the flow of salvation history and clearly demonstrates that even today we continue to fall prey to the same temptations and sins that afflicted many of the persons who appear in the Scriptures. In fact, he states this clearly in a troparion from the eighth ode:
In other words, St. Andrew brilliantly weaves his own, and our, lives into the very fabric of the Holy Scriptures, reading the Scriptures allegorically and typologically, for each and every one of us is "Adam" or "Eve" who relive the fall into sin and its consequences in our own lives. Fr. Alexander Schmemann makes this point eloquently in his book Great Lent:
The Church, like a loving and compassionate Mother, does everything to instill in us the spirit of repentance. For on our own, we may simply continue perhaps content, but unaware of the deeper needs of our soul: recognition of our sin, spiritual blindness, indifference, self-righteousness, worldliness; and the gift of salvation in Christ. The Great Canon of St. Andrew will not allow to hide from this searching self-examination and "exposure" of the darker recesses of the heart. And thus, it is the perfect "medicine" for the "sickness" of self-deception and self-delusion that can become "chronic" or even "terminal" if not "treated."
At the same time a pervasive sense of hope and trust in the inexhaustible patience, compassion and love of God for us imbues the entire Canon. He knows that through repentance and turning back to God we will be saved:
Though profoundly convicted through the endless waves of troparia that reveal our sins to us, the ultimate goal of St. Andrew's Canon is to convince us that the only way through to repentance is precisely through an unflinching admission of the condition of our souls and the need to repent. Paradoxically, it is this that allows us to depart from this service convinced of God's healing and forgiving grace and refreshed in both body and soul. That is the whole basis behind our confession of sins. Everyone that I have personally encountered over the years following this service always struck me as in some way uplifted and hopeful, as if a kind of interior cleansing has begun: "Yes, I am a sinner, but God loves me and will accept my repentance. I am now reassured of that." This is the effect of God's grace working in us.
Again, in the words of Fr. Alexander Schmemann, from Great Lent:
All of this because we have been saved by the Last Adam who is Christ:
Repentance brings joy. The Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete is our introduction into that reality. We had many compunctionate worshippers in the church yesterday evening. I am sure that they came to that realization. One evening yet remains for the chanting of the fourth part of the Canon. We will begin this evening at 7:00 p.m.
Fr. Steven
February 21, 2007 - Day 3 - A Flood of Repentance - or - The Transforming Power of the Divine Services
Dear Parish Faithful,
I had begun a meditation based on the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete that we are chanting through the course of the first four evenings of Great Lent. But I decided to save that one and perhaps complete it for either "Thursday's Theological Thoughts" or "Fragments for Friday." Based upon my own personal experience fresh in my mind from just yesterday, I wanted to offer some reflections about getting through a long exhausting day and still making the decision to come to church in the evening, trusting in the transformative potential and power of the Church's liturgical services. Especially considering that this is the first week of Great Lent and that the Canon of St. Andrew is both unique and incomparable. I will not hide the practical and pastoral goal I have in mind: convincing many of you to yet partake of the spiritual riches of this service in the final two remaining evenings.
Tuesday is my normal "day off" and I was at home preparing to "host" a succession of insurance agents, carpet cleaners and plumbers who were scheduled to arrive throughout the day, in order to perform their particular roles in cleaning up some water damage following a burst pipe from our recent bitterly cold nights. My intention was to catch up with some reading in between the arrival of my various visitors. However, another unforseen problem demanded my immediate and undivided attention. Now, we have a sloping driveway with a drain at the bottom of it. Somehow, this drain totally clogged up - frozen inside as it turned out - and with the rapidly melting ice on the driveway pouring downward toward the unopen drain, something of a small pool of water was quickly growing into a "flood" of sorts. Even with the garage door closed, this deluge was threatening to inevitably seep into that space. I had visions of discovering a floating car in the garage the next morning. Never having quite developed the skills of being an effective "domestic engineer," I resorted to the primitive techniques of chopping up the ice and discarding it on the lawn before it could melt; and then bailing out the accumulated water with a bucket. Since it was so warm that one could practically see the ice and snow melting, I was struggling to keep up with my task. After bailing water for awhile and then stopping for a rest, the area filled right back up in a short time. Rather discouraging.
Then the rains came! Steady, and with the sky resembling a gray, leaden sheet, seemingly of biblical proportions. It was now man against nature. In between dealing with my guests mentioned above and frantically bailing with my bucket, it proved to be a long, exhausting day. Certain phrases that I may have to bring up in confession flitted across my mind. I was not only quite tired, but actually getting rather sore. I was like an urban, modern-day Sisyphus, with my endless and eternal pails of water being hauled off to the grass replacing his large stone going up and down a hill. However, I remained bereft of the consolation of knowing it was somehow all tragic. Standing there, pants rolled up and bucket in hand, I did not offer the pose of an heroic figure. When they arrived home respectively from school and work, Paul and presvytera were enlisted. We realized the nature of the problem, but could not quite get through to the hardened ice deep within the drain in order to break it up.
Leaving a still unsolved problem at home and being quite exhausted as I mentioned above, I was rather apprehensive of the service ahead of me. (And presvytera Deborah was facing a two-and-a-half hour class at the university). It is a demanding service with its many bows at the waist and the prostrations at the end. My mind remained preoccupied with semi-nightmarish visions of what to expect when arriving home later - and the possible late-night work ahead of us. Being the priest, though, I did not have the choice of "sitting this one out." Thank God! Once the service began and we started chanting the Canon, I felt perfectly fine. By the grace of God, my attention was focused. My body did not feel particularly tired. If not invigorated, then at least rather unburdened from the day's demanding activity.
The Great Canon of Repentance of St. Andrew has a power to it that makes its way into your mind and heart right away. Its vivid call to repentance is overwhelming. There is truly a "joy-creating sorrow" in being given the opportunity to bow down before God in recognition of our sins - and of our salvation in and through Christ. One is immediately humbled, and by the grace of God able to "lay aside all earthly cares." It doesn't always happen that way, but it did for me yesterday evening. Sometimes, "nothing" seems to happen and one remains tired and listless. We need to accept that also. There are no "guarantees." But we need to allow the opportunity for God to act in our lives. And that means that we may need to give ourselves the needed "push" at times. To adapt C.S. Lewis' celebrated phrase for the purpose of my subject here, when entering the church for a service there always exists the potential for being "surprised by joy."
This is not at all about me, but about God and what I referred to above as the transformative power and potential of the Church's liturgical services. Further, this has nothing to do with pseudo-pious indulgence or "feeling good." It has to do with what our souls need: repentance, forgiveness, salvation, etc. What a blessing to enter into the sacred atmosphere of the church and be plunged into the "life in Christ!" Truly, our youth can be renewed like the eagle's - even those of us who no longer have a "youth" to speak about!
Two evenings yet remain for the Canon of St. Andrew - today and tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. If you have the choice of being here even if it means going that "extra mile" after a long, tiring day, then I encourage you to think about it seriously. Especially if you cannot remember the last time you attended this particular service. Not only will you not regret it, but you will be glad in spirit for making the effort to come to church for the service. There is an "atmosphere" that we simply cannot reproduce at home. Your "brothers and sisters" in Christ will also be there with you. I am absolutely confident that everyone who has been here on Monday and Tuesday fully agrees with me. These services are integral to that "good start" that we all desire for the long lenten season.
"All's well that ends well." My son-in-law came over and solved the problem of the frozen drain. He knows how to do things that somehow I don't. We drove up to a wet, but unflooded driveway. A wave of relief passed over me. We were now facing a peaceful rest of the evening and hopefully an even more peaceful sleep. All in all, it was a good day!
In Christ,
Fr. Steven
February 19, 2007 - Day 1 - A Freeing Gift from God
Dear Parish Faithful,
This Monday morning we have awakened to the first day of Great Lent. I once again hope and pray that your lenten journey is blessed and fruitful. If so, then you will be able to celebrate a truly blessed Pascha. Over the last four Sundays, based upon the appointed pre-lenten Gospel readings, I have offered some suggestions as to how we can understand and approach the season of Lent. To briefly summarize, Great Lent is a time to:
- 1) focus our minds and soften our hearts;
- 2) respond to Christ's invitation to repent;
- 3) develop a healthy fear of God based upon the judgment to come;
- 4) overcome the demands of our egos and practice mutual forgiveness
Approaches to Great Lent are seemingly inexhaustible. St. John Chrysostom writes that there are five paths to repentance: condemnation of your own sins, forgiveness of our neighbor's sins against us, prayer, almsgiving, and humility. Of the first of these, he says the following:
We should be more than a little glad that none of this is easy, for if it were it would not be worth the "effort." Something like "no pain, no gain." The "easy" Lent is about nostalgia, cultural heritage, ethnic sensibilites and traditions, etc. All of these are the basic ingredients for a kind of "soup for the soul," to be followed by the inevitable spiritual famine once the meal is over. Our goal is to break bad habits, break out from frozen and fruitless patterns of daily existence, overcome the "flesh" and its endless desires for satisfaction, move from a self-centered to a God- and neighbor-centered mode of existence, abandon empty and meaningless goals in life, and to try and become decent human beings. If serious about Great Lent, we are struggling to untrench the entrenched. To me, at least, none of that sounds very easy! Perhaps the sacred forty-day season will allow us to make some modest inroads into these tangled areas of our lives. But even the merest of beginnings can be very significant when supported and sustained by the grace of God. We also need to balance that "negative" list of goals, with one that is "positive." And we only need to turn to the Apostle Paul and what he lists as the "fruit of the Spirit" which "is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faifhfulness, gentleness, self-control." (GAL. 5:22-23) Such fruits of the Spirit promise to transform basic decency into genuine sanctity
In the baptismal service, we pray to become "newly enlisted warriors of Christ our God." Our battle, according to the Apostle Paul, is against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, agains spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." (EPH. 6:12) Now, to go into battle effectively, one must be properly armed for the conflict. Prayer, alsmsgiving and fasting are three trustworthy weapons that arm us indeed so that we can emerge "victorious." Their organic unity and inter-dependence work in us for our "training in godliness."
I believe that the few basic points of this short meditation add up to one very clear and overwhelming truth: that Great Lent is a gift from God, in and through the Church, to all of us. It has definite "rules" and a well-worked out discipline to be practiced and respected within the context of a magnificent cycle of lenten services. And, very simply, we are exhorted to embrace and stay with this discipline as an act of obedience. That is a great and at times woefully ignored Christian virtue. But Great Lent is not so much legalistic as it is liberating. It does not bind us, but frees us. It is not an end in itself, but a means to our high calling in Christ Jesus.
May your first day and the days to follow be blessed.
Tonight we serve the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete at 7:00 p.m.
Fr. Steven
