June 2, 2004
Dear Fathers, Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,
The Feast of Pentecost arrived this last Sunday as the fulfillment of the paschal mystery. On the fiftieth day after Pascha the Holy Spirit was sent into the world by our risen and glorified Lord. With this "last and great Day" of Pentecost the "two Hands of God," the Son and the Holy Spirit, have entered the world in the "fulness of time" in order to redeem and sanctify the world according to the divine economy. So we now find ourselves in the Week of Pentecost which is "fast-free" - as is the week following Pascha - due to the solemnity of the Feast. The revelation of the Son and the Holy Spirit is the completion of the revelation of God's trinitarian nature or, simply, of the Holy Trinity. As we chant in the Liturgy:
And emphatically and without apology, we chant following the reception of Holy Communion:
What was hinted at in the Old Testament is now fully revealed in and through the Church. A well-known passage from St. Gregory the Theologian expresses this "progressive revelation:"
The Old Testament preached the Father clearly, but the Son only in an obscure manner. The New Testament revealed the Son, but did no more than hint at the godhead of the Holy Spirit. Today the Spirit dwells among us, manifesting himself to us more and more clearly. For it was not safe, when the divinty of the Father had not yet been acknowledged, plainly to proclaim the Son; nor, when that of the Son had not yet ben accepted, to burden us further - if I may use a somewhat bold expression - with the Holy Spirit.
So, by gradual additions and ascents, advancing from glory to glory, the splendour of the Holy Trinity shines upon the more enlightened. You see illuminations breaking upon us gradually; while the order of theology, which it is better for us to observe, prevents us both from proclaiming everything at once and from keeping it all hidden to the end. (Oration 31)
The Church does not proclaim an unqualified monotheism, a vague theism or an even vaguer unitarianism, but the mystery of the Holy Trinity in all of its paradoxical splendour. In a passage that can easily keep your mind occupied for the rest of the day, we read the following:
Paradoxically, the One moves from itself into the Three and yet remains One, while the Three return to the One and yet remain Three.
The single divinity of the Trinity is undivided and the three Persons of the one divinity are unconfused.
We confess Unity in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, divided yet without division and united yet with distinctions. (St. Thalassios the Libyan, Centuries on Love and Self-Control)
Clearly, one would have to agree with St. Gregory the Theolgian in order to have the "mind of the Church:"
When I say God, I mean Father, Son and Holy Spirit. (Oration 45)
Christian theologians did not create the dogma of the Trinity by reasoning their way to certain conclusions. The mind, illumined by the Spirit, in the sacramental and mystical life of the Church, understands what God has revealed. Such insight is Spirit-directed. It is an "anointing" that "teaches about everything and is true and not false." (I JN. 2:27) This is a gift from God received in and through faith. This gift is available to all of the faithful members of the Church. In fact, and with a certain boldness, St. John writes to the faithful members of the community:
As for you, the anointing that you received from him remains in you, so that you do not need anyone to teach you. (I JN. 2:27)
(No reason, however, to abandon the parish Bible Study or other catechetical classes. Rather, the anointed and knowledgable members of the community need to participate and share their wisdom)
We may as well allow St. John to close this meditation with one of those passages that clearly point to the Spirit-inspired nature of the Holy Scriptures:
Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God; for God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his own Spirit. (I JN. 4:7-13)
Fr. Steven
June 4, 2004
Dear Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,
One of our Bible Study participants brought the following passage from C. S. Lewis to my attention based upon one of our discussions:
Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. (The Weight of Glory, II, preached as a sermon in 1941)
This text was written/delivered "only" sixty years ago and in that relatively short span of time it has taken on an even greater urgency as it accurately describes our "human condition" today with devastating insight. We are far too easily pleased claims C. S. Lewis. Can even Christians honestly disagree? Instead of the vision of heaven and eternal life - the unblushed promises of reward ... in the Gospels according to Lewis - we are not merely content but at times totally infatuated with and enamored of some rather paltry stuff. Lewis mentions drink and sex and ambition, fleeting passions of the flesh and ego. The primal stuff of just about any commercial that will tease our money out of our pockets as our lower nature is being stirred through stimulating imagery and dreams of "happiness" attained. These allurements are the mud pies in a slum that Lewis speaks of. This is what St. John calls "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life (I JN. 2:15) We could endlessly extend that list and even include our own consumer-driven vision of "heaven-on-earth" - Disneyworld! (Whatever happened to Disneyland?)
None of this even begins to touch upon the infinite joy offered to us in the Gospels by our Lord. This is what Lewis apparently means when he says our desires are not too strong, but too weak. Strong desire - genuine passion we could say - seeks the eternal above all else; weak desire - pseudo-passion we could say - seeks the temporal above all else. For a variety of complex reasons we are settling for less even though continuing in the Christian life and claiming to seek the Kingdom of Heaven. According to Christ, that could be a form of "lip service."
Perhaps one of those many and complex reasons could be an inherent and reluctantly-admitted sense of "entitlement" hidden within our psyche. The American dream is to "have it all" if we are just resourceful enough, willing to work hard, and have just a bit of "good luck" along the way. And if we do that with success, then heaven - if it indeed exists - is something we are also "entitled" to just because of our good efforts. How could God (dare) deny us? But in this over-all scheme, heaven becomes a vague appendix to the more tangible rewards of this world.
By the way, I have no intention at all of undermining the quality of the "small things" in life that bring us a quite and simple joy, experiences that qualitatively increase through age and wisdom: a walk on a lovely evening, reading a good book, playing with the grandchildren, pleasant conversation, etc. I would argue that when our "hierarchy of values" is in order, then these seemingly humble joys are only increased in their intensity. In fact, there exist many "earthly delights" - aesthetic beauty, nature, human love - that point toward and make present genuine glimpses of heavenly beauty.
Yet, somehow, something or someone is deceiving us. We seem determined to "get it while we can," perhaps too unsure or unsteady about the "rewards" of heaven that have indeed been promised to good and faithful servants of the Lord. The sceptics tell us that we are dreaming. That there is only the here and now. We act and live as if we are not going to die. Yet it is our very fear of death that keeps driving us on with an insatiable desire for "more." (There is a wonderful proverb that I recently discovered: "Enough is a feast"). We are surpressing that thirst for the infinite - what Fr. Schmemann called an "instinct for transcendence" - that is alive somewhere in the depths of our heart and which can only be satisfied by the living waters promised to us by Christ. As St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians
I am sure that no Christian is really willing to trade that in for whatever is being offered us today of infinitely lesser value. Yet, it might take some waking up.
Fr. Steven
June 7, 2004
Dear Fathers, Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,
The Sunday of All Saints fittingly follows the Sunday of Pentecost, for the saints of the Church are the "fruit" and manifestation of the Holy Spirit's presence among us. They are the living icons that are transparent to the glory of God that shines in and through each one of them as a gift of the Holy Spirit. The saints (literally, the "holy ones") have "escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of passion and become partakers of the divine nature." (II PET. 1:4) Created in the image of God, they "are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another." (II COR. 3:18) In the Book of Revelation, St. John has recorded his incomparable vision of the saints in heaven:
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the thone, and to the Lamb!" (REV. 7:9-10)
And since, in the one Church of Christ, the heavenly and earthly realms are united, the saints are "the great cloud of witnesses" that surround us and exhort us to "run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith." (HEB. 12:1-2)
At the most basic level, the saints are the true friends of God: "But to me, exceedingly honorable are Thy friends, O Lord." (PS. 138:16, LXX). They put Christ above all in fulfillment of their Master's words:
He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and he who does nsot take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it. (MATT. 10:37-39)
As we like to say today: "No pain - no gain!" If we were "bought with a price" (I COR. 6:20), then we could say that the saints "bought" their sanctity at "a price," abandoning the security, comfort and safety which, we must acknowledge, are so central to our own understanding of life. (It is rather easy, though it may go unnoticed, for Christians to be transformed into Epicureans over time: avoid pain and seek pleasure). Being "destitute, afflicted, and ill-treated" they "wandered over deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth." As such, God has revealed that the "the world was not worthy" of them. (HEB. 11:37-38)
The "diversity" of the saints is remarkable: fathers and mothers, patriarchs and matriarchs, prophets, apostles, preachers, evangelists, martyrs, confessors, ascetics, and every righteous spirit made perfect in faith, culminating in "our most holy, most pure, most blessed and glorious Lady Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary." (from the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom)
On the Sunday of All Saints, we do not commemorate only the saints whose names have been included on our ecclesiastical calendars; those, in other words, who have been officially "glorified" by the Church and whom we remember and venerate by name. We "remember" all of the saints, that vast multitude, both known and unknown, (symbolically numbered at 144,000 in the Book of Revelation; a multiple of 12 that signifies an incalculable figure as well as wholeness and totality - much to the dismay, I would assume, of the Jehovah's Witnesses) "who are written in the Lamb's book of life." (REV. 21:27) Perhaps our own ancestors who lives modest and humble Christian lives.
All of the saints, therefore, intercede before the throne of God on our behalf. They are with us and not cut off from us by death. Rather, they are now "more alive" than ever and being "in Christ" are present wherever Christ is present. The "earthly lives" of the saints become sources of inspiration and models for emulation for us, teaching by example of faith, hope and love; of long-suffering, perseverance and patience; of lives steeped in prayer, almsgiving and fasting. They do not discourage us because they attained what may seem unattainable to us; but rather they encourage us to struggle to overcome our weaknesses as men and women who did precisely that in their own lives. They were not born saints or priviliged from birth. They became saints by synergistically co-operating with the grace of God. We, in turn, simply need to become what we already are: saints of God through Baptism and Christmation and membership in the Church!
If you watch the upcoming Summer Olympics, you will be constantly reminded (as you settle into a comfortable position on the couch) of the total dedication, perseverance, training, commitment, and love of the sport exhibited by the many competing athletes. Many may shake their heads in disbelief or nod in admiration. Hardly anyone will call the athletes "fanatics." But if someone is that single-minded and intent upon the life in God, that is a word that will inevitably ring out. The saints were not fanatics - they simply had a passion for God and put the Gospel and Kingdom of God above all else.
To be "inducted" into any particular Hall of Fame - from baseball to Rock 'n Roll - is considered to be the greatest of human achievements and a goal only a elite few could even aspire to. However, theses Halls of Fame are the secular and rather pale - if not pitiful - reflections of an earlier ages's striving for the heavenly realm. The saints looked beyond the fleeting and temporal "glory of men" to the unchanging and eternal "glory of God." That seems to be the vocation of all Christians and God's desire for us.
Fr. Steven
July 12, 2004
Dear Fathers, Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,
It is one thing to hear and speak about sin in the ecclesial setting of the Liturgy. After all, we pray that the Eucharist we receive in the Liturgy is for the "remission of sins" among other things. Our entire liturgical experience places us in the presence of "the holy, consubstantial, life-creating and undivided Trinity." Intuitively then, if not consciously, we realize our sinfulness in the presence of God's holiness. Otherwise, we would be - as St. Jerome once famously said - either God ourselves or a rock! However, what may be experienced with a certainly intensity on Sunday morning may, by Monday morning, seem somewhat remote and "out-of-mind" as we scurry back to work and the "normal" patterns of life. (If you are vacationing, then the "existential catastrophe" of sin seems even more remote). My point is not to drive home the sad reality that we remain "sinners" on Monday morning; but to offer a few reflections for this particular Monday morning meditation based upon the Gospel reading from yesterday's Liturgy.
That reading was from the Gospel according to St. Matthew (9:1-8), the account of the healing of the paralytic (also with other details and emphases in MK. 12:1-12; and LK. 5:17-26). Jesus not only heals the paralytic from his horrible physical malady to the astonishment of the crowd, but first proclaims to him: "Take heart, my son, your sins are forgiven." We need to recognize the powerful messianic thrust of these words, for only God has the prerogative to forgive sins, and here Jesus is ascribing this divine prerogative to Himself in a very open and authoritative manner. This is precisely what provokes "some of the scribes" to murmur to themselves "this man is blaspheming." This passage thus reveals Christ's messianic identity as the coming "Son of man" who "has authority on earth to forgive sins." Healing the paralytic further confirms this truth - "a bodily sign in order to demonstate a spiritual sign" according to St. Jerome. This will reach its climax at the Mystical/Last Supper, when Christ will take the cup, offer thanksgiving to God and say: "Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood of the (new) covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." (MATT. 26:28)
Just about every passage in the Gospels is marked by a certain specificity: this person (often anonymous), at this place, at this certain point in time encounters, or is encountered by Christ, and healed or taught something of life-changing significance. This is due to the specificity of the Incarnation: at a certain point in time (which is, actually, the "fulness of time" according to St. Paul in GAL. 4:4) and at a certain place and within a certain setting, the Son of God becomes man as Jesus of Nazareth. Yet, these same very specific events have a certain revelatory quality that make them timeless in their meaning and significance. This is how and why we read these passages today with the specific goal of actualizing the Gospel in our own lives. If we somewhat allegorize (as the Church Fathers did) and thus universalize this passage about the healing of the paralytic, we can understand it in a much wider, over-all context, as St. Hilary of Poitiers teaches:
The paralytic is a descendent of the original man, Adam. In one person, Christ, all the sins of Adam are forgiven. In this case the person to be healed is brought forward by mininstering angels. In this case, too, he is called a son, because he is God's first work. The sins of his soul are forgiven him, and pardon of the first transgression is granted. ( On Matthew 8.5, found in Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, p. 174)
We too realize that we have been forgiven by the Son of man and healed from the paralyzing effects of sin. For sin is a form of "spiritual paralysis." It is a sickness that troubles and eventually distorts out entire organism of both soul and body. A particular pattern of sin becomes a "bad habit," a vice and eventually a full-blown "passion" as the Fathers teach. The effect can truly be paralyzing - eventually of our self-control and will to resist. Any and all "therapeutic" means of healing begin with Christ in the sacramental life of the Church, especially Confession and Communion. For Christ is the "Physician of our souls and bodies," as we refer to Him in some of the prayers of the Church. If we are ever tempted to believe that we are somehow (hardly) without sin, we need to turn to St. John's First Epistle and read the following:
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, I am writing this to you so that you may not sin; but if any one does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the expiation for our sins, and not ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (I JN. 1:8-2:2)
An awareness of sin and a healthy realization - not to be confused with an unhealthy obsession - of our sinfulness is the beginning of the "road to recovery" - and eventually Paradise. Actually, it is the world around us that has an obsession with denying, seemingly, the very reality of sin. This sounds like the "road to perdition" - and eventually Hell. It is a false freedom that allows us to more or less do as we please by denying sin. The sad delusion here is that the restrictions and limitations from our very nature will soon enough prove more than constricting, with death itself as the final "proof" that we are not really free. A true freedom is found in the overcoming of sin through repentance. By the grace of God, and in God's good time, we will be able to transcend the limitations of our nature, including death itself, through the Death and Resurrection of the sinless Son of God who died for us "while we were yet sinners." (ROM. 5:8)
Fr. Steven
July 19, 2004
Dear Fathers, Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,
Admittedly, July is the most uneventful month of the year liturgically: no major fasts or feasts occur during this month. Basically, there is "only" the Liturgy on Sundays and the commemoration of a few well-known saints throughout the month. With vacationing parishoners, there can be a noticeable drop in church attendance. There may also be certain signs of "spiritual laziness" setting in (induced, perhaps, by the haziness of the weather). It is something of a month-long stretch of desert, for we celebrated the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul at the end of June and await the major Feasts of the Transfiguration and Dormition in August within the context of the two-week fast from August 1-14.
Of course, we never want to find ourselves saying that there is "only" the Liturgy on Sunday mornings. The word "only" is hopelessly inadequate when applied to the Lord's Day celebration of the Eucharist! "Only" implies "uneventful." Yet, every Liturgy is the actualization of the paschal mystery of the Death and Resurrection of Christ, and our participaion in that mystery. We are in direct communion with God and one another in the Liturgy. This means that every Liturgy is "eventful" in a manner that we can barely comprehend.
There is also nothing "routine" about the Liturgy. When our spiritual life - or, rather, our life in general - becomes "routine" we then impose that "routineness" upon the Liturgy. Or - to put it somewhat more bluntly - we impose our very boredom on the Liturgy. Boredom, of course, is only deepened by all of the outward stimulation that we bombard ourselves with in our futile attempts to stave off being bored! None of this has anything to do with the Liturgy itself.
If, indeed, the summer proves to be something of a drought, then we can only say thank God for the weekly liturgical cycle that begins and culminates with the Divine Liturgy on the Lord's Day so that we can recover and renew our genuine humanity that has been created, redeemed and transformed "in Christ." The heavenly manna, or the "Bread from heaven" that we receive by the grace of God, strengthens us in the somewhat outward and inward "desert-like" conditiions of the world around or within us.
According to the church calendar, one of the commemorations found in the month of July is that of the Holy Fathers of the Seven Ecumenical Councils (only of the first Six in the Russian tradition), prescribed for the Sunday that falls from the 13th - 19th of the month. The troparion for the Holy Fathers describes them as "lights on the earth" who "have guided us to the true faith!" This was their vocation, for they were true theologians who, in the words of St. Gregory the Theologian, "were purified or were at least purifying themselves." (A rather well-chosen antidote for boredom, no doubt). And to paraphrase the kontakion for their commemoration, they defined and glorified "the great mystery of piety." (I TIM. 15) St. Paul describes that great mystery in the form of a hymn:
The Holy Fathers, then, defined and glorified the mystery of the Incarnation, Death, Resurrection and Ascension of Christ; both developing it in order to expand our understanding and protecting it against heretical teaching. Such teachers, guides and pastors have existed in all and every generation of the Church's ongoing pilgrimage in this world. To claim otherwise, according to St. Symeon the New Theolgian, would be a blasphemous denial of the Spirit's ongoing and uninterrupted presence in the Church. In a remarkably bold passage, St. Symeon challenged any and all denials to the accessibility of the Spirit in a striking manner:
Those of whom I speak and whom I call heretics are those who say that there is no one in our times and in our midst who is able to keep the Gospel commandments and become like the holy Fathers ... Now those who say that this is impossible have not fallen into one particular heresy, but rather into all of them, if I may say so, since this one surpasses and covers them all in impiety and abundance of blasphemy. One who makes this claim subverts all the divine Scripures. I think (that by making this claim) this vain person states that the Holy Gospel is now recited in vain, that the writings of Basil the Great and of our other priests and holy fathers are irrelevant or have even been frivolously wirtten. If, then, it is impossible for us to carry out in action and observe without fail all the things that God says, and all that the saints after first practicing them have left in writing for our instruction, why did they at that time trouble to write them down and why do we read them in Church? Those who make these claims shut up the heaven that Christ opened for us, and cut off the way to it that he inaugurated for us. God who is above all, stands, as it were, at the gate of heaven and peers out of it so that the faithful see him, and through his Holy Gospel cries out and says, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest" (MATT. 11:28). But these opponents of God or, rather, antichrists say, "It is impossible, impossible!" (Catechetical Instructions, XXXIX, 3-5)
The Holy Spirit, source of enlightenment for both the Holy Fathers and Mothers, is "everywhere present and fillest all thiings, both "in season and out of season" (II TIM. 4:2) That would include the month of July!
Fr. Steven
Midweek Meditation on St Seraphim of Sarov
Wed. July 21, 2003
Dear Fathers, Parish Faithful and Friends in Christ,
I just received a new book in the mail that I began reading last night - Saint Seraphim Wonderworker of Sarov. It was a book originally written in Russian by Helen Kontzevich, but recently translated into English. Many Orthodox - and now many non-Orthodox - Christians are very familiar with this beloved holy man of 19th c. Russia (+1833). There must exist now at least a half-dozen full-length biographies of him in English, together with other collections of his teachings. The particular book that Helen Kontzevich wrote is well-researched and written in a warm and deeply sympathetic spirit that reflects an attitude of awe and veneration before this remarakable and saintly man. The book is promising to be a wonderful example of 20th c. hagiography ("lives of the the saints").
If there ever did exist a "Holy Russia" silently hidden beneath the troubled and turmoil-filled history of Russia, then it was surely embodied in the figure of St. Seraphim. For he was an ascetic, a mystic, an elder and a wonderworker, thus realizing in his person the ideals imbedded in that term "Holy Russia." The details of his life leave the impression of the legendary and "medieval" with the numerous accounts of the miraculous seemingly occuring on a daily basis. Nevertheless, his life is extremely well-documented and their were countless witnesses to his amazing other-worldly quality of life. His own monastery of Sarov and the Diveyevo Convent which he helped establish and then guide, painstakingly gathered together these eye-witness accounts and preserved them for future generations and able chroniclers. The recent account of the discovery of his relics after their seeming destruction by the communist authorities, and their transfer back to Sarov in a very public procession, is simply one more miraculous event in the saint's life.
Of course, the one event that most people familiar with St. Seraphim have heard of is his "Conversation with Motovilov." This occured in the winter, in a clearing in the woods near the Sarov monastery, when the saint was conversing about the spiritual life with his disciple Nicholas Motovilov. It is here that St. Seraphim spoke the words he is very well-known for, thus summing up the centuries-long ascetical/mystical tradition of the Christian East:
"Prayer, fasting, vigil and all other Christian practices, however good they may be in themselves, do not constitute the aim of our Christian life, although they serve as the indispensible means of reaching this end. The true aim of our Christian life consists in the acquistion of the Holy Spirit of God. As for fasts, vigil, prayer, almsgiving, and every good deed done for Christ's sake, they are only means of acquiring the Holy Spirit of God."
It was following this lofty conversation that there occured the "awesome" event of St. Seraphim's transfiguation before Motovilov, when he was seen by his disciple shining "brighter than the sun" (MATT. 17:2) as a palpable demonstaration that he had indeed acquired the Holy Spirit of God. This was the source of his endless joy. It was said of him, then regardless of the time of year, he would always greet visitors with the words; "My joy, Chtist is risen!"
The "Conversation" is something perhaps best read and pondered over on your own. For our purposes, I simply wanted to pass on a few of St. Seraphim's more "down-to-earth" teachings that we may be able to find room for in our own lives. Although we will most likely have to await his spectacular transfiguration in the Age-to-come, any actualization of the the Gospel precepts - or the precepts of the great saints - begins the humble process of transfiguration in the here and now. St. Seraphim is a wonderful example of how we cannot place any time limits on the "age of the Holy Fathers," for the Spirit of God is as active today as on the Day of Penecost.
From the teachings of St. Seraphim of Sarov:
"Obedience is the foremost virtue, before fasting and prayer."
"Acquire peace and thousands around you shall be saved. If it is impossible not to become disturbed, then at least try to hold your tongue, according to the psalmist, 'I was troubled and spoke not' (76:4). In order to escape judgment, you should be attentive to yourself, and ask, 'Where am I?' "
"You should throw off despondency, and strive to have a joyful spirit, not a sorrowful one, in the words of Sirach, "Sorrow destroys much, and there is no use for it" (SIR. 30:25). This sickness is healed by prayer, restraint from idle talk, handiwork as you are able, reading the Word of God and patience; because despondency arises from idleness."
"You must not sorrow, for Christ has conquered all, Adam is resurrected, Eve set free, death slain!"
"It is not right to forego the chance to benefit as often as possible from the blessing given through the Communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. Concentrate as hard as you are able, in meek awareness of your utter sinfulness and with hope and firm faith in God's unspeakable mercy, upon approaching His Holy Mysteries by which He has redeemed alll and everyone. Say with tender feeling, 'Forgive me my sins, O Lord, that I have committed with my soul, words, deeds, and all my senses."
"Those who have truly decided to serve the Lord God should exercise themselves in the remembrance of God and ceaseless prayer to Jesus Christ... Ceaselessly repeat the prayer 'Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner.' Be heedful in prayer, that is, collect your mind and unite it with your soul... When God warms your heart into one spirit, the prayer will flow in you without end, and will always be with you, delighting and nourishing you ...
July 28, 2004 - On The Annual Parish Pilgrimage to The Orthodox Monastery of the Transfiguration (Ellwood City PA)
We returned from our short monastery pilgrimage yesterday evening. There were thirteen of us at the monastery for the Liturgy yesterday morning as we celebrated the 1700th anniversary of the martyric repose of St. Panteleimon the great "wonderworker and unmercenary" (July 27, 304) Being the one priest present at the monastery for the Feast, I was invited to serve the Liturgy. On Monday evening, we were at Vespers and Compline and then shared a meal with the sisters in the refectory. A quiet evening followed.
The Liturgy on Tuesday morning was preceded my Matins. After the Liturgy, we again were treated to a wonderful brunch in the refectory. Following this, we were able to visit the monastery bookstore, walk around the monastery grounds a bit, and then gather together for a talk by Mother Kapitolina, a nun from Alaska who was visiting her former monastic home and who informed us of some aspects of Church life in Alaska. Our five children were shown around and treated to a talk by the young novice, Sister Martha, about the life of the nuns at the monastery.
Of course, we saw Sister Vicki and visited with her as much as possible. She has recovered well from the bone marrow transfer of a few weeks back, and seemed to be doing very well. She is already quite integrated into the monastic life of the community and contributes to the over-all well-being of the community in many ways. She is completely imbued with a sense of purpose and direction (how many people enjoy that experience?), wholly given over to and focused on the life in God in its Orthodox monastic expression. This is visibly revealed in her bright and joyful countenance and her warm and cheerful spirit. (Of course, there are daily temptations of a very fierce nature that she has to contend with). I think it is abundantly clear that Sister Vicki has discovered her (late) vocation: to be an Orthodox Christian monastic. This obviously took some courage, for she made this radical "lifestyle change" well after her youthful years, at least chronologically. But now her youth is being "renewed life the eagle's" - as the psalmist says. What a joy for me as now her former parish priest and what a blessing for our parish!
The Monastery of the Transfiguration is a wonderful place to visit and it is always open to visitors. All you need to do is call ahead and reserve a place in the guest house. That would make a wonderful weekend retreat for both adults and children.
Monday Morning Meditation - August 2, 2004 - "Refocusing the 'Inner Eye'."
Dear Fathers, Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,
Truly blessed are the Orthodox faithful, for yesterday was the beginning of the two-week Dormition Fast (August 1 -14). Amidst the spiritual drought that the summer can unintentionally devolve into, we are being called back to our senses as we concentrate on re-focusing and re-centering our lives in the Church. To maintain a "religious" fast in the summer: nothing like a counter-cultural alternative life-style to affirm our identity as the "people of God" (laos tou Theou) and the "rational flock" of Christ! Otherwise, we can be so immersed in the surrounding "culture" that our Christian identity becomes about as permanent as the clothes we put on and take off for church on Sunday. St. Paul exhorts us: Do not be mismated with unbelievers." (II COR. 6:14)
The Church, as a nourishing Mother, knows what is best for her children, and thus exhorts us to take up the spiritual weapons of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. And this particular fast is in honor of the Mother of God who is the living personification of the mystery of the Church. It is her death that we are preparing to celebrate in the Feast of the Dormition - or "Falling Asleep" - on August 15, a death that culminates in her "translation to heaven."
I mentioned above "re-focusing" our lives in the Church. Perhaps we could also speak of keeping our (inner) eye on Christ. When we fail to do so, it seems inevitable that we will eventually begin to "sink." This was most dramatically brought to our attention in the Gospel reading at yesterday's Liturgy, when we heard the account of Christ walking on the water and Peter's attempt and failure to do the same. We can well imagine the terror of the disciples when they first saw Christ walking on the water towards their boat that was "beaten by the waves; for the wind was against them." (MATT. 14:24) After "they cried out for fear," Christ spoke words to them that were both authoritative and comforting: "Take heart, it is I; have no fear."
This prompted the ever-impetuous Peter to answer Christ with a bold request: "Lord, if it is you, bid me come to you on the water." Peter was enabled by divine grace to actually walk on the water toward Jesus. However, this brief experience of the "miraculous" was quickly brought to a close, for we then hear "but when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, 'Lord, save me'." The "wind" ("strong wind" in some manuscripts) proved too frightening of a force for Peter, so that his fear and anxiety apparently took his gaze, attention and concentration off of Christ. His cry "Lord, save me," was answered by Christ who "immediately reached out his hand and caught him." This saving gesture, however, was accompanied by a rebuke: "O man of little faith, why did you doubt?"
This dramatic event from the Lord's ministry certainly serves as a "microcosm" of our own relationship to Christ. We all seem to be caught up in this "dialectic" between faith and fear. Of moving toward Christ with boldness and singularity of vision, only to "sink" in fear when threatening obstacles appear to block our path. In his excellent book The Miracles of Christ, Archbishop Dmitri combines fine exegesis of these biblical passages with insightful commentary that bring us into these events. About this particular passage (MATT. 14:22-34), he writes the following:
We know that Christ is the Lord. We know that He can deliver us from tribulation and perhaps have seen Him do so on other occasions. But when we experience great troubles, attacks of the devil and temptations, we forget Him and His saving power and are overcome by fear. He delays coming to us when we fail to call on Him or put our trust in Him, even allowing us to be tested. He still comes to us, however. Even then we fail to recognize him, just like the disciples in the boat. It is then that we hear Him saying, "Be of good cheer, it is I; do not be afraid." Like the disciples, we have to be reminded, because of our little faith, that He always lifts us up and puts out His hand to rescue us. (Miracles of Christ, pp. 40-41)
If we choose the metaphor of a voyage for the course of our lives then, embracing the faith of the discples, who were able to worship Christ saying, "Truly you are the Son of God" (MATT. 14:33), we can be assured of "crossing over" to the other shore. And that "safe harbor" is the Kingdom of God.
Fr. Steven
Meditations for the Dormition Fast
August 3, 2004
We can judge the Church's attitude towards women by the high position accorded to the Most Holy Mother of God. The Church glorifies Her more than all of the saints and even more than the angels. She is praised in hymns as "more honorable than the cherubim and beyond compare more glorious that the seraphim." The Holy Virgin is the Mother of Christ and Mother of the Church - it is in Her person that the Church glorifies motherhood. Motherhood is an integral part of woman's dignity and it may be noted that those Protestant churches that have entrusted to women the celebration of the Eucharist and other priestly functions neither venerate the Mother of God nor pray to Her. Yet the Church community deprived of the Mother of God loses its fulness in the same way that a community deprived of the priesthood is not a complete Church. If fatherhood is realized in the person of the hierarchy - the episcopate and the priesthood - then motherhood is personified in the Church in the Most Holy Mother of God.
Adopted from "The Mystery of Faith" by his Grace, Bishop Hilarion (Alfeyev)
August 4, 2004
Mary in no way replaces her Son in the work of salvation, nor does she serve in the technical sense as "mediatrix" or mediator between God and us. Although the Liturgy at times attributes to her the title Mediatrix, the expression can be understood only in the light of her Son's saving activity. She "mediates" for us only insofar as she prays and intercedes on our behalf. This is the calling - and the blessed possibility - offered to all of us, insofar as we, like the Mother of God, willingly offer ourselves, together with the world around us, the mercy and grace of our Lord.
There is only "one mediator between God and men," the apostle declares, "the man Jesus Christ, who gave Himself as a ransom for all ..." (I TIM. 2:5f.) Orthodox Christians know this intuitively. Yet, they also know that Jesus' mother never ceases to intercede for us and, indeed, to "mediate" our prayer before God.
- Fr. John Breck
August 6, 2004
In her recognition and acceptance of her vocation, in her attitude of receptivity, Mary stands before us supremely as the one who listens obediently in faith. Faith is of the essence of Mary's response at the Annunciation, and faith presupposes listening. When we think of her obedience, it is important to give to the word "obedience" its true and literal sense; both in Latin (ob + audire) and in Greek (hypakoi) it signifies to hear. "Let it be to me according to your word," Mary replies to the angel. (Lk. 1:38) The Mother of God listens to God's word. The Gospel reading appointed for most feasts in her honor includes Christ's reply to the woman in the crowd: "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it." (Lk. 11:28) This answer, which from a superficial point of view might seem to belittle the Holy Virgin, in reality indicates what is her true glory. She is blessed, not merely by virtue of the physical fact of her childbearing, but also and more fundamentally by virtue of the spiritual depth of her inner faith and attentiveness to God's word. Had she not first learned to hear the word of God in her heart, she could never have borne the Word Incarnate in her body.
From an article By Bp. Kallistos Ware, Mary Theotokos in the Orthodox Tradition
Monday, August 9, 2004 "North Star of Christ's Holy Church..."
Dear Fathers, Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,
On this Monday morning of August 9, we commemorate the glorification/canonization of Blessed Fr. Herman of Alaska (+1837), an event that occured in 1970. Coming out of the Liturgy this morning, we have the humble, yet radiant, image of Fr. Herman before us. Acknowledging his apostolic labors in Alaska, we refer to him in the troparion as the "North Star of Christ's Holy Church." Truly "God is glorious in His saints, the God of Israel!" As a heavenly intercessor and an accessible image of "faith, hope and love," North American Orthodox Christians can only rejoice, and see as a direct sign of providence, the beginnings of Orthodoxy on our continent so intimately connected with this simple monk who was yet "the salt of the earth." His memorable saying, often written on a scroll placed in his hands on many icons of him, remains a direct call to us in our hectic, care-filled lives: "From this day forth, from this hour, from this minute, love God above all." However, this timeless aphorism was uttered in a certain context, at the end of a conversation with some Russian officers and sailors that has been recorded in his "Life" in the following manner:
One day the captain and officers of a Russian man-of-war invited Fr. Herman on board to dine with them. In the course of the conversation he put this question to them. "What do you, gentlemen, regard as most worthy of love and what do you most wish for your happiness?" One man said he desired riches, a second glory, a third a beautiful wife, a fourth the command of a fine ship. The others present expressed themselves in some similar manner. "Is it not true," said Fr. Herman, "that all your wishes can be summarized in this short sentence: each of you desires that which he thinks is most worthy of love?" To this statement they all agreed. "If this is true," he continued, "what can there be better, higher, nobler, and more worthy of love than the Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator of heaven and earth, the Author of all living beings, Who provides for all, Who loves all, and Who is the incarnation of love? Should we not above all love God, seek Him and desire Him?" The officers were quite confused and repied that what he said was true, was self-evident. He then asked them if they loved God. "To be sure," said they, "we love God. How could anyone not love Him?" Hearing these words the old man bowed his head and said: "I, a poor sinner, for forty years have tried to love God and I canot say that I love Him as I should. To love God is to think of Him always, to serve Him day and night, and to do His will. Do you, gentlemen, love God in this manner, do you often pray to Him, do you always do His will?" With shame they acknowledged their shortcomings. "Then let me be beseech you, my friends, that from this day forth, from this hour, from this minute, you will God above all." The officers marveled at his words and long remembered them.
Now that seems like a worthy "item" to place at the top of our next "list of priorities!" Or rather, we could say that it need remain an "ultimate priority" throughout our lives. And if, somehow, this story seems too naive or "simple," then perhaps we need to examine the cost of our own theological/spiritual "sophistication."
A portion of the Gospel passage read today at the Liturgy, and which is always read at the "commemoration of all righteous monastics," was taken from St. Luke's "Sermon on the Plain:
St. Herman is thus a witness to "blessed poverty" - freely embraced within the context and culture of Orthodox Christian monasticism - yet a state or condition that most of us could only contemplate with true anxiety, if not genuine horror. St. Herman did not own much more than his tattered cassock. Of course, there was the plank that served as his bed and the stone that served as his pillow. But these things, together with a few untensils and tools, were probably about all that was his. As the inclination toward materialism - including our own - continues to spin seemingly out of control, St. Herman reveals that non-accumulation and non-acquisitiveness is the road to freedom. "Less is more" according to the Gospel. And if we were in his presence, he could very well make us feel uneasy - without having to utter a single word - for not sharing from the reservoir of our own accumulated wealth with those in need.
Here, then, is the Church's counter-cultural icon. Our nation is desperately in need of such icons, but it is clear that St. Herman, and anyone like him, are unlikely to get much media coverage or exposure. Then why not make our children familiar with St. Herman? Many books on him abound. Children are attracted to the stories in his "Life" whenever they hear them. They know what is authentically human when they hear it. They value his compassion and love for other children, espcially the many orphans he took care of.
Why not get ourselves and our children on "friendly terms" with one of our heavenly intercessors?
Fr. Steven
Friday Fragments: August 13, 2004 - "Let the 'Games' begin..."
Dear Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, held in Athens, Greece, will begin this evening with an Opening Ceremony that promises to be audaciously ambitious, if not bombastic. (Will the Greek gods of Mt. Olympus descend and make an appearance?) Around the globe, it is estimated that over a billion people will be watching. Sadly, the excellence and excitement of the athletic competition is threatened by both the high-profile incidents of substance-enhanced performances and, of course, the ominous threat of "terrorist attacks." The "civilized" world hopes and prays that such attacks never materialize. The Greek Olympic Committee has assured the world - together with the Greek government and security agencies - that they are prepared for any such assaults if they do come. The price-tag for such security is close to two billion dollars. Such is the world today.
I feel certain that in the background we will be made aware of the ancient and pre-Christian "glory of Greece." As an admirer of Greek culture, I will look forward to this. If it is not already, the Parthenon - majestically perched upon the Acropolis - is sure to be permanently etched upon our minds as the most prominent monument of the glorious political, philosophical and artistic achievements of the short-lived, but profoundly influential flowering of 5th c. B.C. Athens. A photograph of former Olympian Carl Lewis with the Parthenon in the background is on the first page of today's Sports Section here in Cincinnati. And our local sports page editorialist, writing from Athens, has contributed the rather overblown aphorism: "If civilization is a man, Athens is his DNA." (He has apparently forgotten about Sumer and the Fertile Crescent). I am further certain that with due solemnity we will hear of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle; Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides; Draco, Solon and Pericles. I have the somewhat uneasy feeling, however, that the ubiquitous Greek gods - Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Athena, etc.- are going to be reduced to the rather undignified role of team "mascots" or souvenir coffee mug and key-chain status.
Not that we necessarily should at at the Olympic Games - a prominent sporting event, after all - but I doubt that we will be made acquainted as further background material for the Games, with Greece as an Orthodox Christian country. The Parthenon, incidentally, was an Orthodox Christian temple dedicated to the Theotokos for a much greater period of time than it was a "pagan" temple dedicated to the goddess Athena. Greece may have the Oracle of Delphi, but ii is also home to over one thousand open and thriving monasteries, in a country that is one-third the size of the State of California! It is, of course, quite a secularized country today and church attendance is now a small proportion of the population, but Greece has an ongoing and unbroken Orthodox Christian identity that is literally apostolic in origin. Visitors will always speak of the profound piety and faith of the believing population.
If NBC would direct a journalist and camera crew to the northeast (and it would have to be an all-male crew!) they would come to the monastic republic of Mt. Athos, situated on the easternmost peninsula of Chalkidiki and jutting into the Aegean Sea almost forty miles in length. Mt. Athos is called the "Holy Mountain" by the Orthodox faithful. Here they would encounter a revived monasticism that is lived out in twenty large monasteries and numerous sketes and hermitages dating back a thousand years . These monks are essentially "spiritual athletes" of the highest calibre. "Athletes" who are training for an imperishable crown to be received in the Kingdom of God. Through prayer, fasting, almsgiving, vigil, prostrations and tears, the monks of the Holy Mountain are seeking the grace of God that purifies the heart, transforming it into a garden of Paradise where the uncreated energies of God dwell in and through the presence of the Holy Spirit. The ultimate experience of this indwelling is the vision of the uncreated light of Mt. Tabor that illuminates both the soul and body. Such is the goal of the "spiritual athletes" of the Holy Mountain.
The image of the spiritual athlete is taken from St. Paul who, drawing upon the ancient Isthmian Games held in Corinth, wrote the following in I COR. 9:24-27:
Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athelete excercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. I do not box as one beating the air; but I pommel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
In other words, St. Paul gives us in this passage the basis for Christian asceticism (from the Gk. askesis). This word - taken from ancient Greek vocabulary! - was originally used to denote athletic training and discipline. Later, philosophers used it to describe the discipline of training in virtue. Ultimately it entered Christian vocabulary and practice within the context of the monastic movement to the desert where the ascetic "trains" for the Kingdom of God. Every Christian is to some extent an ascetic, in that he/she practices self-discipline in order to liberate the body from the excessive demands of "the flesh." (Perhaps something to remember as the hours pass by on the couch in passive enjoyment of the Games).
While today's athletes are greatly admired - justifiably, I believe - for their extraordinary "devotion" and "sacrifice" (the language starts to get "religious"); the monastic or any intense Christian in the world may be looked at with a certain suspicion: "excessive," "overly-zealous," even "fanatical." This reveals a marked change in perception that has been going on for at least a few centuries now. In the Christian East during its Byzantine period, the monastic was held up as pursuing the ideal vocation. The seeking of the Kingdom of God at the expense of worldly success or prominence was seen as the highest human pursuit. And as St. Paul reminded us, it was, after all, an imperishable crown that was being sought. Perhaps our admiration for the athletes that we may be prepared to spend hours watching over the course of the next few weeks will serve as yet another reminder of our own Christian vocation and the zealous effort required for its fulfillment. In yet another striking passage that borrowed from the ancient world's sports competition, we hear of our ultimate goal and destination:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (HEB. 12:1-2)
May the "Games" begin!
Fr. Steven
Friday Fragments; August 27, 2004
Dear Parish Faithful and Friends in Christ,
I was studying this Sunday's Epistle reading from the Apostle Paul - I COR. 16:13-24 - and was again struck by the inspired ability of the apostle to "pack" so much meaninglul content into a seemingly straightforward verse. In I COR. 16:13, St. Paul exhorts us with the following words:
Be watchful, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.
Seemingly straightforward, but actually this short exhortation can stand as a "working definition" of what it means to be a Christian! Or, somewhat more specifically, it can claim to accurately outline what we call our "spiritual tradition." Our task as Christians is to "unpack" this verse through a process of prayerful reflection and meditation, so that the content of the Apostle Paul's words becomes a way of life for us today. This is the specific task of the Church's biblical exegetes, theologians, pastors, teachers, and preachers. A good part of this interpretive work is to understand the contemporary conditions of life that make the fulfillment of such an exhortation urgent and essential. Otherwise, the biblical words are merely so much pious rhetoric that we can pay "lip-service" to, but politely ignore.
Do these words of the Apostle Paul speak to us with a sense of urgency today? Is it essential that we take them to heart and seek to actualize them in our daily life as Christians? Perhaps if we lived in an environment that was thoroughly imbued with Christian principles that elevated our social, political, economic, artistic and over-all cultural life to a "Godly level" we could somewhat relax our vigilance - though that is unlikely under any conditions in "this world." But to think for a moment that we live in such a world would be to exhibit a degree of blindness that would be too painful to contemplate!
"Be watchful ... " This can also mean be vigilant, attentive, recollected. It signifies a "spiritual wakefulness." As Archbishop Kallistos Ware writes:
The "watchful" man is one who has come to himself, who does not day-dream, drifting aimlessly under the influence of passing impulses, but who possesses a sense of direction and purpose. (The Orthodox Way, p. 114)
What passes for "entertainment" today, all too often seems to be nothing more than a series of stimulating and sensory "passing impulses" that deprive us of any sense of spiritual sobriety or wakefulness. And this is the "entertainment" that we unreflectively immerse our children into! Some of it is, of course, decent; but a good deal of it can only be described as trash. The overwhelming content of today's entertainment is non-Christian, with more and more of it slipping into being anti-Christian. Being "watchful" over our relationship with God and the Church will equip is in the urgent and essential task of spiritual vigilance.
"Stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong ..." In our morally confused, ethically empty, and spiritually drained contemporay environment we are intimidated into believing that being anit-abortion is "anti-choice;" that opposing the practice of homosexuality and "gay marriage" is being "homophobic;" and that resisting active euthanasia is being "unmerciful." But also to resist corporate greed, merciless competition and rampant consumerism, or to oppose some of our government's policies is to be labeled "liberal," "non-comformist" or even "radical." To "stand firm" concerning the moral, ethical and spiritual implications of "your faith" - which on one level is to oppose the legalization of what was the unthinkable only a few decades ago - is going to take a good deal of courage and strength! The question is: are we up to it? To we have the strength and courage to stand firm or are we becoming ethical relativists who do not want to appear as "intolerant?" If asked, do we have the courage and strength to let our co-workers, neighbors or even relatives know where we stand as Orthodox Christians on such issues if questioned?
"Let all that you do be done in love." The Christian must always lift up every attitude, approach, action or endeavor to that lofty level of love. "Speaking the truth in love" is our goal according to the Apostle Paul. It is the way of Christ and hence the way of the Gospel. Otherwise, we can sound like a "noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." (I COR. 13:1) This is never simply an emotional or sentimental love, but an "active love" - to use an expression of Dostoesvky from The Brothers Karamazov. This love - inspired by God's initial and saving love for us - allows us to avoid hatred, bitterness and resentment when we "stand firm in the faith with courage and strength in the face of a once Christian vision of life spiralling away into cultural extinction right before our very eyes.
When we prayerfully reflect and meditate upon the sacred words of Scripture, we will marvel at the riches and the Truth we find there in order to strengthen us in our lives today as Christians. We need "ears to hear" and a heart determined to remain faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ and the Gospel that we bear the responsibility of witnessing to.
Fr. Steven
Midweek Meditation; September 1, 2004 - On The Church New Year
Dear Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,
September 1 is the beginning of the Church New Year. In addition to the Old Testaments roots of commemorating the New Year in September, there are further causes to be found in the Christianized Roman Empire of earlier centuries, when the Church simply maintained a practice that was aready intact in Rome. Be that as it may, the petitions commemorating the "coming year" include the following supplications to God:
That Thou wilt bless the crown of the coming year with Thy bounty, and quench the flames of discord, enmity, and strife; that Thou wilt give us peace, perseverance, sincere love, and a virtuous disposition; we beg Thee, Lord, hear us and have mercy.
That Thou wilt not call to mind the innumerable sins we have committed during the past year, and wilt not deal with us as our evil lives deserve, but that Thou wilt remember us in Thy mercy and bounty; we beg Thee, Lord of mercy and tender compassion, hear us and have mercy.
That Thou wilt remember Thy Holy Church, and strengthen and establish it, enlarge it and give it peace, preserving it forever unscathed by the gates of hell and impregnable against all assaults of visible and invisible enemies, we beg Thee, O all-powerful Lord, hear us and have mercy.
That Thou wilt root out and destroy every blasphemous design of the unbelieving world, and hasten the day when the meek will inherit the earth; we beg Thee, O all-powerful Lord, hear us and have mercy.
We no longer live in an agrarian society in which the rhythm of harvesting and sowing is the cycle that marks our lives. This relationship to the earth and a keen sense of our literal dependence upon its fruitfulness was very pronouced in biblical times (and beyond). This was the major reason for the New Year being commemorated in September according to the Scriptures.
Yet, in our contemporary world that is highly technological and where we depend upon our neighborhood supermarket to supply us with our food - real and artificial - we still have a real sense of "beginning" in September with the end of vacations and the "back to school" atmosphere that is all around us. In fact, for some of the faithful, it may be "back to Church" after "summer vacation" kept many people "preoccupied" elsewhere! Now is the time to return and thank God for everything in our lives including His creation in which we mysteriously find ourselves as human persons created in His "image and likeness."
We will thank God for His creation this evening with the chanting of the Akathist Hymn "Glory to God for all things" at 7:00 P.M. This is an incredibly rich hymn which situates our personal and unique lives within the beauty of the cosmos.
Truly a good way to begin the Church New Year.
Fr. Steven
Thursday, September 2, 2004; On Children As Hostages
Dear Parish Faithful,
Although the news is rather dominated by the speeches currently being given at the Republican National Convention, to me, at least, the "real news" is the horrific - if not sickening - unfolding of events in North Ossetia where Chechen terrorists have taken a school full of children hostage. The anguish this is causing in Russia can be easily detected in the following excerpts from editorials in Moscow-centered newspapers:
The terrorits have crossed the final barrier: they have set to work on our children. What can be done for children whose lives are under threat at this moment? They are still young and do not know that their state does not enter talks with terrorists. Perhaps this rule should be forgotten, as children are foremost in the firing line of the war on terror. - Moskovskaya Pravda
Only scum wage war on children - when children are taken hostage, it changes everything. We know how tough our country can be when there are adult hostages. But we do not know how it will behave now, when children's lives depend on it. In theory, the authorities could back down, specifically because they are children. If they do back down, terrorists could adopt the practice of taking children hostages in other countries as well. Clearly we will now have to station an armoured car in the playground of every school and kindergarten, build firing points in the windows and deploy a platoon of special forces troops around the grounds. - Moskovskiy Komsomolets
I am hardly an astute political analyst or commentator - but I do not need to be to fully grasp the anguish and agony of this "no win" situation. On the one hand, as stated above in one of the commentaries, "the terrorists have crossed the final barrier." Having crossed this barrier, it is inconceivable for us to contemplate the willful destruction of these children. But the "logic" of terrorists can justify even this, based on the fact that thousands (that is the claim) of Chechen children have been killed by Russian troops in the battle over Chechen independence. If negotiations break down and ultimately fail, I am strongly inclined toward the position that the Russian government must accept the fact that they have "lost" in this episode, and therefore must do everything - include capitulate - to save the lives of these innocent children. It would be an intolerable burden on any political leader's conscience - and in this case it is Russian President Vladimir Putin - to make a decsion that would lead to the death of these children.
And yet, the other commentator makes the painfully obvious point that such a decision would encourage other terrorists to "adopt the practice of taking children hostage in other countries as well." Why not in Amercia and why not "our" children in that case? There is no greater "weak spot" in any nation than its innocent children. Will we eventually have to "station an armoured car in the playground of every school and kindergarten?" as the editorialist asked above. These are new realities and new possibilities that we face. Life is no longer the same since September 11, and we are going to have to accept that.
Personally, I do not think any act of terrorist violence against innocent victims is justified. Terrorism seems to be born out of the desperation of political, social, and economic suppression. I strongly believe that we need to acknowledge this and to be critical of any government's policies that seek to maintain such an intolerable "status quo." Yet, regardless of the profound frustration, anger, impotence and misery caused by such situations, I still cannot find any moral or ethical justification for terrorists acts that willfully destroy innocent human life. Of course, I have never had to experience that suppression myself, so it could seem "easy" for me to come to my conclusion, but after some thought that is my personal position.
Regardless of the "cause" being invoked, I think that this act of taking children hostage and threatening to blow up the school can only be called a "terrorist act." I have read that a few of the children have been released already. If these particular terrorists are bent on suicide then the situation is truly desperate. Yet perhaps their own consciences will be troubled in the end, and having spent so much "intense time" together with these children and directly witnessing their terror and fear, they may draw back from the unthinkable.
Is that altogether too much to hope and pray for?
Another passage from the Russian commentators further captures some of the anguish felt within that country today:
We are getting into the habit of mourning. It is an appaling habit. We will soon be at the point where it is not acceptable to joke and laugh in public, and comedies will disappear from the television screens. There is no place for smiles at funerals. People are dying practically every day ... The term "terrorism" does not fully cover the scale and nature of what is happening, not only in the Caucasus but across the whole country. A real war in under way. Everybody it brushes with its bloody wings suffers losses. - Moskovskaya Pravda
Fr. Steven
Midweek Meditation - Wednesday, September 8, 2004 - On The Beslan Tragedy and Eternal Hope
Dear Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,
On this bright Feast Day of the Nativity of the Theotokos, there still remain more children to be buried in the small town of Beslan, North Ossetia in Russia. In an article that I wrote last week as the events of this terrorist act were initially unfolding, I expressed the hope and prayer that the "unthinkable" could somehow be avoided. Tragically, and much to our collective horror, that was not to be. The "slaughter of the innocents" that followed upon the outbreak of shooting during the seige of the school is now a hard fact that we are forced to contemplate. Images of frightened and shrieking children together with those who were dazed and bloodied poured into our homes and then into our memories. The empty and smoldering middle school that contained many charred bodies and which has now become a shrine to the victims also stands out. Now we are praying for the souls of those who have perished and for the grieving who remain bereft of their children.
In terms of human suffering and death, I believe that this is the worst single-day tragedy since our own national nightmare of September 11, 2001. Although there is still a good deal of confusion as to the exact identity of the terrorists, it seems certain that religiously they were Muslims. From some of the images I saw on television, the funerals seemed to be of both Muslims and Orthodox Christians. There was some relief and consolation, therefore, when the terrorists were strongly condemned throughout the Muslim world by high-standing clerics and journalists. The most troubling question in the aftermath of this tragedy just may be: will the sheer horror of this event make it a one-time abberation; or will it turn this into a precedent for future terrorists to exploit?
The irrationality and sheer evil of not only taking children hostage, using them as human shields and then shooting at them or blowing them up will (hopefully) remain beyond our capacity to comprehend. What was meant to be achieved by all of this is also hard to determine.
I believe that we need to speak carefully and thoughtfully about God in relation to this tragedy. Pious platitudes may only serve to dishonor the dead and irritate the skeptical. The human heart, teaches St. Macarius the Great, can be filled with "God and the angels ... heavenly cities and treasures of grace." Yet, he continues, it can also become the home of "poisonous beasts, and all the treasures of evil;" "uneven roads" and even "precipices." God encourages and graciously enables the former and "allows" the latter. Our Lord taught:
For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a man. (MK. 7:21-23)
All of this presupposes human freedom and self-determination. The "mystery of iniquity" is linked to the "mystery of freedom." Human sin is committed by human beings who have suffered or allowed the corruption of their hearts. This is a complex process that is difficult to rationally disentangle for there are so many factors and variables in human conduct. And that very sin can be committed "in the name of God." According to the Christian revelation, God chose to overcome and defeat the power of sin and death "objectively" through the Death and Resurrection of Christ, but this must be "subjectively" appropriated, so that the heart can be healed and purified through faith. God does not force people to be virtuous or refrain from evil actions. The New Testament certainly does not claim that He ever would.
In the Memorial Service that we had for all of the victims of the Beslan tragedy, we prayed the following:
Do Thou, the same Lord, give rest to the souls of Thy departed servants, in a place of brightness, a place of refreshment, a place of repose, where all sickness, sorrow and sighing have fled away ...
For Thou art the Resurrection, and the Life, and the Repose of Thy servants who are fallen asleep, O Christ our God ...
If that prayer manifests truth and reality, then it is not a pious platitude, but rather a profound expression of our collective hope and conviction that the "last word" belongs to God whose righteousness is to all eternity.
May He who arose from the dead, Christ our true God, through the prayers of His all-pure Mother ... establish the souls of His servants who have been taken from us, in the mansions of the righteous ...
And through the intercessions of the Theotokos, whose Nativity we celebrate today, may Christ bring peace and consolation to the hearts of the grieving and mourning parents, relatives and friends of the children, women and men who innocently suffered and may their memory be eternal!
Fr. Steven
Monday Morning Meditation, September 13, 2004 - Put not your trust in princes, but in the Cross...
Dear Fathers, Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,
The news, both domestic and international, has been particularly brutal over the course of the last few weeks or so: multiple terrorist attacks in Russia, culminating in the horror of Beslan; a terrorist bombing in Indonesia; an escalation of the war in Iraq accompanied by many deaths and an uneasy sense of an operation spiraling out of control; deadly and destructive hurricanes throughout the Caribbean Islands and into Florida. And in the "Orthodox world" the tragic deaths this past weekend of Patriarch Petros VII of Alexandria and sixteen others in a yet unexplained helicoptor crash off the coast of Greece. Memorial services with the closing chant of "Memory Eternal" continue to resound throughout our parishes.
Our own Metropolitan Herman of the OCA was compelled to issue two Archpastoral Messages within the last week - one that combined a response to both the tragic events in Beslan, Russia and the hurricanes that struck Florida; and another that marked the third anniversary of September 11, 2001. Even people who are inclined to carve out a "small world" for themselves and stay safely within it cannot but be "moved to tears," to use an expression from one of Metropolitan Herman's Messages.
Our two presidential candidates are conducting full-scale campaigns for the upcoming November election in which they are both assuring us that their respective "programs" are much more capable than their opponent's to both address domestic and international isses and insure a greater security for our nation. Without ruling out the credibility or sincerity of these claims - or that one approach could indeed be better than another - I believe that we are still left with the psalmist's intuition about the relative strength of worldly power:
Put not your trust in princes or in sons of men, in whom there is no salvation.
To return to one of Metropolitan Herman's Archpastoral Messages, he summarizes and places within historical context, the recent tragic events that have shook the world:
We live in a world in which tragedy is a frequent visitor. Human history is filled with countless tragedies, as reflected in the many prayers by which we beseech Our Lord for deliverance from "flood, fire, famine, earthquake, pestilence, invasion,and civil war" and from "tribulation and danger, sickness and accidents, and sudden death," even as we pray for "the sick and the suffering, for captives and their salvation" and those "suffering persecution for the faith." Indeed, Our Lord Himself instructs us to pray for deliverance "from the Evil One," while revealing that evil will continue to attack us until He comes again in glory.
The expressive language found in the above phrases from some of the time-honored prayers of the Church, reflect some of the concerns of and threats to an earlier world and (Christian) society. Yet, since there "is nothing new under the sun," those very prayers resonate with the same concerns and threats troubling us deeply into the twenty-first century. In fact, an over-all sense of anxiety is probably more intense today than at any time in the past.
The response of the Church to the ongoing misery of the world - a response which is never "relative" but "ultimate" - is that of the co-suffering love of God as revealed in Christ crucified and risen. The Lamb of God is slain "before the foundation of the world" due to the divine foreknowledge of the human suffering that will afflict and torment humanity and that can only be healed by God's entry into it. This is the Christian Gospel. That "Christ Jesus" ... emptied himself ... and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross." (cf. PHIL. 2:5-11) In a somewhat more triumphal tone, and with theological precision, this is expressed in the Second Antiphon chanted regularly in the Divine Liturgy:
- Only-begotten Son and immortal Word of God,
- Who for our salvation didst will to be incarnate
- of the holy Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary,
- Who without change didst become man
- and wast crucified,
- Who art one of the Holy Trinity,
- glorified with the Father and the Holy Spirit:
- O Christ our God, trampling down death by death,
- save us!
Archbishop Kallistos Ware further deepens this supremely Orthodox intuition of God's co-suffering love when he writes about Christ being "obedient unto death:"
God saves us by identifying himself with us, by knowing our human experience from the inside. The Cross signifies, in the most stark and uncompromising manner, that this act of sharing is carried to the utmost limits. God incarnate enters into all our experience. Jesus Christ our companion shares not only in the fullness of human life but also in the fullness of human death ... "The unassumed s unhealed:" but Christ our healer has assumed into himself everything, even death. (The Orthodox Way, pp. 78-79)
The Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross will be celebrated on Tuesday, September 14. As long as human suffering continues to exist, this Feast will be far more "meaningful" than the vapid term "relevant" can possibly disclose. It is an essential liturgical expression of the centrality of the Cross within human history itself, and within our personal lives. In fact, the Cross is at the very center of the cosmos. And, of course, the Cross is never understood in isolation from the Resurrection of Christ, the victory of life over death. In anticipation of this upcoming Feast, one of the Gospel readings in the Liturgy yesterday was taken from the Gospel of St. John:
For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John. 3:16)
If we have another "solution" to the tragic events swirling around us - and to human suffering and death in general - then we can reduce the Feast to a colorful and pious celebration that we can ignore with a clear conscience. Otherwise, the veneration of the "precious and life-giving Cross" becomes an imperative act of faith and worship.
Fr. Steven