St. Gregory of Sinai
December 2007 Bishop
Sergios
The writings of Saint Gregory of Sinai have not received the intense academic interest enjoyed by his younger monastic contemporary, Saint Gregory Palamas, but his basic writings are available in volume 4 of Faber's Philokalia (212-286) with a brief introductory note (207-211). Kallistos Ware (titular Metropolitan of Diokleia, Ecumenical Patriarchate) wrote a short essay The Jesus Prayer is St Gregory of Sinai, and another British academic, David Balfour, presented Saint Gregory's Discourse on the Transfiguration in an edited version with English translation, in successive issues of Theologia, printed as a single book by Borgo Press in 1989. A recent (2004) book in modern Greek by Aggeliki Delikari studies the slavonic translation of Saint Gregory's works (Agios Grigorios o Sinaitis: I Drasi kai i Symvoli Tou sti Diadosi tou Isichasmou sta Valkania). Among the questions that interest modern academics is whether or not the two great hesychasts, Gregory of Sinai and Gregory Palamas, were in contact with one another.
All those who feel jarred and distracted by the confusions of the 21st century will be consoled by the life of Saint Gregory of Sinai. Born and raised in early youth near Klazomenai, in Asia Minor, he was captured by marauding Moslem pirates with his family and other Greek townsmen and held for ransom. While in detention he was noted for his ability as a chanter by the Christian worshippers living under Moslem rule. Once ransomed he seems to have left his family - although still young - and to have gone to Cyprus, where he became a rassoforos monk (the first grade of monastic profession) and then moved on to Sinai where he was tonsured as a fully-professed monk (hence his title, of Sinai, although he spent comparatively little time in Sinai). There is today a small kelli (one-room monastic cabin) at some distance from the great monastery of Saint Katherine dedicated to Saint Gregory, and the contemporary local view is that he moved to this small hermitage and spent some time there. Whatever the case, for those who love the Saint it is a very moving experience indeed to stand in the wonderful katholikon of Saint Katherine's on Sinai and consider that he stood in the same building seeing the same great ikonographic program that impresses itself on worshippers today, centering on the great mosaic of the Saviour's Transfiguration filling the eastern apse of the temple.
He moved on to Crete where a monk Arsenios taught him (evidently for the first time) about the guarding of the nous, true watchfulness and pure prayer as his biographer and disciple, the Holy Patriarch Kallistos I of Constantinople wrote in his biography of his beloved Elder.
From Crete Saint Gregory moved on to Mount Athos, probably around 1300, when he would have been about 35. He did not enroll in one of the great ruling monasteries, but in a remote skete, named Magoula, the ruins of which can still be seen about a half-hour's walk eastward from the modern ruling monastery, Philotheou. Not much is left of Magoula, but again the ruins bear powerfully upon any who are devoted to Saint Gregory.
Saint Gregory was to live for about a quarter of a century in this place until, around 1325-1328 Moslem piratic incursions became so intrusive and distracting that those seeking solitude and its peace and silence opted to move away from the Holy Mountain (rather than into one of the strongly-fortified ruling monasteries). He attempted a return at some point in the 1330's but soon abandoned the idea of living on Athos altogether.
Saint Gregory ended his life beyond the borders of the Empire of the New Rome, in a place called Paroria in the Strandzha Mountains overlooking the Black Sea, safely within the borders of the Bulgarian Empire whose Emperor, John Alexander, was devoted to monasticism and its practitioners. Emperor John Alexander provided not only a monastic facility, but dedicated a number of villages to Saint Gregory's community - the basis of monastic economic life in that era - and provided, in addition, a military guard sufficient to ward off Moslem intrusions. One must note that Moslems were not Saint Gregory's only problem: monks in the Strandzha Mountains were moved to jealousy by the imperial patronage given to Saint Gregory's monastery, as also by the high esteem in which the Saint was held by numbers of Christians from far and near, and these envious neighbours stirred up no end of hardships for Saint Gregory and his community. Time, however, was on the side of the Parorian community, and by the time of Saint Gregory's death, his community counted large numbers of Greek- and Slav-speaking monks, some of whom were to play high and prominent roles in the life of the Church both in Constantinople and in the Slavic areas of the Balkans, and who were to constitute the core of what has been called the 'hesychast international'.
Saint Gregory seems to have played no role at all in the polemics of the era, in which Saint Gregory Palamas defended the practice of hesychast prayer and spiritual life against attacks both by Barlaam of Calabria (acting as a representative of western theological principles) and by a number of Orthodox Christian theologians equally uncomfortable with the assertions of articulate hesychasts, who were emboldened by an experience that was personal and clearly overwhelming, although the Greek-speaking opponents had somewhat different presuppositions at work in their polemical opposition to hesychasm than did Barlaam (and subsequent western critics).
However absent Saint Gregory of Sinai was from the extant polemics of the age, his writings agree entirely with the theological point of view defended by Saint Gregory Palamas.
After many hours of liturgical worship, our community gathered in a very different age and on a mountainside far removed from Athos and the Strandzha range feeling powerfully encompassed by the intercessions of its heavenly patron, noting one and all that for all the contributions of academic monographs to our understanding of the hesychasts of the 14th century - its golden age - nothing compares with a few hours of liturgical Vigil and Liturgy for accessing the heart of the matter. And to that, Amen.
+Sergios of Loch Lomond, Igoumenos
November 27/December 10, 2007
Seventy Years
November 2007 Bishop
Sergios
On November 15/28, as we celebrate the Feast of St.
Paissios Velichkovsky whose life and work is crucial
for the renewal of hesychast spirituality in the
Church, and the beginning of the fast for the
Nativity of our Saviour, we are also marking the 70th
anniversary of the repose of the New Martyr,
Catherine Routis of Mandra, in Attica, Greece.
Her Troparion (printed in The Struggle Against Ecumenism, p. 305) sums up her significance in the life of the Church:
The crown of martyrdom didst thou receive, O Catherine, by struggling steadfastly for the tradition of our Fathers; and thou didst surrender thy soul to Jesus the Bridegroom, when, on the festival of the Archangels at Mandra of Megaris, thou didst sincerely proclaim the dogmas of the Faith of the Scriptures.
New Martyr Catherine was born in 1900 in the village of Mandra in the region of Megara, between Athens and Corinth. When the western calendar was forcibly imposed on the Christians of Greece in 1924, large numbers of Greek Christians spontaneously rejected both the new order of things and the Hierarchs responsible for enforcing that new order.
The forcible (and violent) imposition of the western calendar was the result of a sinister combination of secularizing political policies, inaugurated by the government of Emanuel Venizelos, coupled with the reformist-ecumenist ideas associated with syncretist freemasonry and an infatuation with the West, which had been quietly emerging within a circle of Hierarchs of the Ecumenical Patriarch (and elsewhere) from the 19th century forward. These ideas would become the stated policy of that Patriarchate under the guidance of the freemason and ecclesiastical adventurer, Patriarch Meletios IV Metaxakis.
New Martyr Catherine and her husband joined the
widespread populist and spontaneous rejection of the
government's Synod of Bishops and their policies, and
continued to worship with clergy and laity according
to the traditional calendar. While much is
written in our times concerning the futility and the
wrong-headedness of making an issue of the 13 day
difference between the western and the traditional
calendar, the fact is that neither the 13 days nor
even the calendar itself is the primary issue, any
more than boiled wheat (kollyva, in
Greek) was the issue during the kollyvades
dispute; any more than painted pictures were
the issue during the age of ikonoclasm. The
question raised by the heresy of ikonoclasm was a
fundamental christological issue; the issue raised by
the kollyvades Fathers concerned the liturgical
reflection of fundamental Christian faith and
practice, and the issue raised by the "old-calendar"
movement is the issue of the basic definition of the
Church herself, as that definition is manifested in
the decrees of Councils and the writings of
acknowledged Fathers.
The defense spontaneously organized by humble laymen and clergy in Greece from 1924 on was only in the first instance the defense of a given calendar, because contained within that defense was the instinctive defense of the integrity of the "one, holy, catholic and apostolic church" as such.
On the feast of the Archangels, November 8th (November 21st on the western calendar), 1927, Catherine was part of a large congregation of confessing Christians in her native village. During the Vigil for the feast (presided over by the Presbyter Christopher Psallidas) a detachment of police, ordered out by the Ministry of the Interior acting in response to a demand issued by the head of the government Synod, Archbishop Chrysostomos Papadopoulos, surrounded the village church. After an all-night Vigil, as the Liturgy for the feast began, the police began to batter down the doors of the church with their rifle butts. Windows were smashed. The apparent goal of the police forces was the arrest of Father Christopher (and the consequent termination of the liturgical assembly). But the efforts of the police were not met with success and they called for reinforcements. Meanwhile, inside the temple, most of the congregation received Holy Communion, and were preparing to leave the church and rest after the all-night service.
As the communicants began to leave, and as it became evident that the police were intent on arresting Father Christopher, a group of pious women surrounded him to form a protective wall, under the impression that the police would not physically attack women. Catherine Routis had left the church after Communion and made sure that her husband and 2 children were safely home, and then she had returned to the church to join the congregation's non-violent efforts to protect its Presbyter.
The police fired their guns into the air to scare off the lay defenders of their Priest, but to no avail. One woman, Angeliki Katsarellis, still inside the church, was hit in the forehead by one of the stray bullets. Women raised their voices against the violent police attack, and when a policeman raised his rifle to strike Father Christopher down, Catherine stepped between the Priest and the attacker and received the hard blow from the rifle butt on the back of her head. Falling to the floor of the church, her last words were Most holy Mother of God.
She was transferred by some of the women to Annunciation Hospital in Athens, along with the injured Angeliki Katsarellis. For 7 days New Martyr Catherine suffered in the hospital. At 4 am on November 15 (November 28 on the western calendar), the first day of the Nativity Fast, Catherine Routis died. She has been commemorated among the Church's New Martyrs ever since.
It is interesting to note that there is a widespread belief amongst the ecumenists that the old calendarists constitute a violent movement. There has been violence aplenty, in fact, both in Greece and in Romania and elsewhere, directed against the confessing, traditional Christians by the ecumenists, but actual violence directed by the confessing members of the Church against the ecumenists has yet to be documented.
Sadly the pristine early years of steadfast resistance to the ecumenist innovations were followed by our own era, characterized by disturbances from within, as confessing but undisciplined and irresponsible Hierarchs, much-given to employing the tactics of verbal abuse and to the violent denunciation of fellow confessing Hierarchs, ad hominem for the most part, have become the familiar face of traditionalism in the public square. This undisciplined and unworthy behaviour defines the confessing Church of our times in the eyes of many, and it does the confessing Church a terrible disservice.
While theological debate and the defense of truth is necessary, the tone in which that defense is undertaken can determine the actual impact of Christian apologetics. It is not possible to view with any satisfaction the increasing failure of a style of apologetics that clearly has alienated many from within the ranks of the so-called "old calendar" movement, and kept many traditionalists within the ecumenist communities from abandoning their ecumenist Hierarchs and affiliating with confessing Orthodox Hierarchs.
Clearly, this is not the way to speak for the Church, because clearly, the actual interests of the Church are not served. One can disagree, without being disagreeable, and one can effectively defend the Church without ad hominem attacks. When the confessing Hierarchs of our own time understand this, the confessing Church will once again become the real option for serious and honest seekers for the truth both from the ranks of the ecumenist Synods, and from the ranks of those who have no connection with either "world" or with "confessing" Orthodoxy.
New Martyr Catherine of Mandra, pray to God for us and for the steadying and clearing of the Church's voice in our confused and contentious times.
+Bishop Sergios of Loch Lomond, November 28, 2007
Her Troparion (printed in The Struggle Against Ecumenism, p. 305) sums up her significance in the life of the Church:
The crown of martyrdom didst thou receive, O Catherine, by struggling steadfastly for the tradition of our Fathers; and thou didst surrender thy soul to Jesus the Bridegroom, when, on the festival of the Archangels at Mandra of Megaris, thou didst sincerely proclaim the dogmas of the Faith of the Scriptures.
New Martyr Catherine was born in 1900 in the village of Mandra in the region of Megara, between Athens and Corinth. When the western calendar was forcibly imposed on the Christians of Greece in 1924, large numbers of Greek Christians spontaneously rejected both the new order of things and the Hierarchs responsible for enforcing that new order.
The forcible (and violent) imposition of the western calendar was the result of a sinister combination of secularizing political policies, inaugurated by the government of Emanuel Venizelos, coupled with the reformist-ecumenist ideas associated with syncretist freemasonry and an infatuation with the West, which had been quietly emerging within a circle of Hierarchs of the Ecumenical Patriarch (and elsewhere) from the 19th century forward. These ideas would become the stated policy of that Patriarchate under the guidance of the freemason and ecclesiastical adventurer, Patriarch Meletios IV Metaxakis.
The defense spontaneously organized by humble laymen and clergy in Greece from 1924 on was only in the first instance the defense of a given calendar, because contained within that defense was the instinctive defense of the integrity of the "one, holy, catholic and apostolic church" as such.
On the feast of the Archangels, November 8th (November 21st on the western calendar), 1927, Catherine was part of a large congregation of confessing Christians in her native village. During the Vigil for the feast (presided over by the Presbyter Christopher Psallidas) a detachment of police, ordered out by the Ministry of the Interior acting in response to a demand issued by the head of the government Synod, Archbishop Chrysostomos Papadopoulos, surrounded the village church. After an all-night Vigil, as the Liturgy for the feast began, the police began to batter down the doors of the church with their rifle butts. Windows were smashed. The apparent goal of the police forces was the arrest of Father Christopher (and the consequent termination of the liturgical assembly). But the efforts of the police were not met with success and they called for reinforcements. Meanwhile, inside the temple, most of the congregation received Holy Communion, and were preparing to leave the church and rest after the all-night service.
As the communicants began to leave, and as it became evident that the police were intent on arresting Father Christopher, a group of pious women surrounded him to form a protective wall, under the impression that the police would not physically attack women. Catherine Routis had left the church after Communion and made sure that her husband and 2 children were safely home, and then she had returned to the church to join the congregation's non-violent efforts to protect its Presbyter.
The police fired their guns into the air to scare off the lay defenders of their Priest, but to no avail. One woman, Angeliki Katsarellis, still inside the church, was hit in the forehead by one of the stray bullets. Women raised their voices against the violent police attack, and when a policeman raised his rifle to strike Father Christopher down, Catherine stepped between the Priest and the attacker and received the hard blow from the rifle butt on the back of her head. Falling to the floor of the church, her last words were Most holy Mother of God.
She was transferred by some of the women to Annunciation Hospital in Athens, along with the injured Angeliki Katsarellis. For 7 days New Martyr Catherine suffered in the hospital. At 4 am on November 15 (November 28 on the western calendar), the first day of the Nativity Fast, Catherine Routis died. She has been commemorated among the Church's New Martyrs ever since.
It is interesting to note that there is a widespread belief amongst the ecumenists that the old calendarists constitute a violent movement. There has been violence aplenty, in fact, both in Greece and in Romania and elsewhere, directed against the confessing, traditional Christians by the ecumenists, but actual violence directed by the confessing members of the Church against the ecumenists has yet to be documented.
Sadly the pristine early years of steadfast resistance to the ecumenist innovations were followed by our own era, characterized by disturbances from within, as confessing but undisciplined and irresponsible Hierarchs, much-given to employing the tactics of verbal abuse and to the violent denunciation of fellow confessing Hierarchs, ad hominem for the most part, have become the familiar face of traditionalism in the public square. This undisciplined and unworthy behaviour defines the confessing Church of our times in the eyes of many, and it does the confessing Church a terrible disservice.
While theological debate and the defense of truth is necessary, the tone in which that defense is undertaken can determine the actual impact of Christian apologetics. It is not possible to view with any satisfaction the increasing failure of a style of apologetics that clearly has alienated many from within the ranks of the so-called "old calendar" movement, and kept many traditionalists within the ecumenist communities from abandoning their ecumenist Hierarchs and affiliating with confessing Orthodox Hierarchs.
Clearly, this is not the way to speak for the Church, because clearly, the actual interests of the Church are not served. One can disagree, without being disagreeable, and one can effectively defend the Church without ad hominem attacks. When the confessing Hierarchs of our own time understand this, the confessing Church will once again become the real option for serious and honest seekers for the truth both from the ranks of the ecumenist Synods, and from the ranks of those who have no connection with either "world" or with "confessing" Orthodoxy.
New Martyr Catherine of Mandra, pray to God for us and for the steadying and clearing of the Church's voice in our confused and contentious times.
+Bishop Sergios of Loch Lomond, November 28, 2007
Gospel for the Second Sunday of Saint Luke
October 2007 Metropolitan
Moses
By His Eminence, Metropolitan Moses
The Lord said, As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. For if ye love them that love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them that do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be sons of the Most High: for He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore compassionate, as your Father also is compassionate (Luke 6:31-36).
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have just heard a Gospel reading that begins with a passage that is quoted in part by many in a slightly revised way, “Do unto others as you would like them to do unto you.” This is saying is called the golden rule by many and, for many, this is the definition of basic common human decency. We all can appreciate that we should treat people as we would like to be treated. There are watered down, popularized versions of this verse, such as, “if you scratch my back, I will scratch yours” or we can get alone and negotiate for a “win-win or no deal” as they say in management circles.
But our Savior is saying much more than this, so it is the rest of this passage that we need to pay careful heed to.
If ye love them that love you, what thank have ye, for sinners also love them that love them. And if ye do good to them that do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same,
that is, fallen man is capable of this.
And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.
Here our Savior is not limiting us to simply doing to others that which we want to be done to ourselves, He is calling us to a completely transformed life.
It is written in the Old Testament that man is made in the image and likeness of God, the image because of reason and free will and the likeness because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Adam and Eve sinned and from that time, the Holy Spirit departed from them and death reigned and sin was a major component in the life of all men. The goal of life became self-preservation and self-indulgence, that is, men lived self-centered existence.
Now through Baptism and the Eucharist we once again receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. If, after Holy Baptism, we begin a new way of life we become a new creation and these great things our Savior speaks about in today’s Gospel passage become possible. Fallen man can work out deals of win-win, fallen man can say, if you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours, but it is only with the help of the Holy Spirit can we attain to the things our Savior is describing.
With His next words, our Savior raises the bar very high and calls us to achieve something that is extremely difficult:
But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be sons of the Most High: for He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore compassionate, as your Father also is compassionate.
From these words of our Savior we can see that our struggle is not simply to fulfill an external set of rules. Christianity is not just a moral code. The Christian life is lived in the heart and it is only through trying to manifest this new creation in our own hearts in our attempts to cooperate with grace that we can even come close to attaining to anything of what our Savior talks about in today’s gospel. How can we find it within ourselves to forgive our enemies? It is almost natural for fallen man to be vindictive and remember wrongs. How can we find it within ourselves to be compassionate as our Heavenly Father is compassionate? We cannot live according to the old man and achieve this. God became man in order to make a new creation of man. Our calling as Christians is to struggle to manifest eternity and the triumph over death and sin in our own hearts. If we fail in this virtue, we fail as Christians, if we succeed in this virtue we have hope of eternal salvation for eternity is manifested in our hearts.
It is a great struggle to transform the heart, and the only way we can overcome tendencies towards self-preservation and self-indulgence, is to experience the higher good. Saint Isaac the Syrian wrote, that ‘unless a soul is intoxicated with faith, that person cannot be healed of the malady of the senses and overcome attachment to material things.’ In other words, unless we are truly familiar with the things of God, the scripture of God, unless we have an active prayer life, unless we fight that struggle in our hearts and weep and entreat God until we find the consolation of the grace of the Holy Spirit to strengthen us, there is no way in the world we can fulfill these commands.
On this day also we celebrate the feast of the Protection of the Mother of God. This feast commemorates the vision of Saint Andrew the fool for Christ and Ephiphanius his disciple in the church of Blachernae in Constantinople. The saints saw a vision of the Mother of God spreading out her veil to cover the faithful with the grace that was given her by God. This spiritual reality is set before us in the depiction of the holy icon of the Protection of the Mother of God. In the icon the Mother of God spreads her hands over the congregation and she is encompassed by an array of many saints and intercedes in our behalf. This feast is a great encouragement for us all. We have the Mother of God and all of the saints for spiritual allies. There are times when it seems impossible and beyond human nature to overcome the raging of our hearts. We have the Mother of God who can root out evil from our hearts and protect us even from the negative inclinations found within.
So on this day let us resolve to look to our Savior and become familiar with the things of God, so that being intoxicated with faith we can lift our hearts and minds on high, even when we have to forgive our enemies, even when we are called upon to be compassionate even as our Heavenly Father is compassionate. Amen.
The Lord said, As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. For if ye love them that love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them that do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be sons of the Most High: for He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore compassionate, as your Father also is compassionate (Luke 6:31-36).
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have just heard a Gospel reading that begins with a passage that is quoted in part by many in a slightly revised way, “Do unto others as you would like them to do unto you.” This is saying is called the golden rule by many and, for many, this is the definition of basic common human decency. We all can appreciate that we should treat people as we would like to be treated. There are watered down, popularized versions of this verse, such as, “if you scratch my back, I will scratch yours” or we can get alone and negotiate for a “win-win or no deal” as they say in management circles.
But our Savior is saying much more than this, so it is the rest of this passage that we need to pay careful heed to.
If ye love them that love you, what thank have ye, for sinners also love them that love them. And if ye do good to them that do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same,
that is, fallen man is capable of this.
And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.
Here our Savior is not limiting us to simply doing to others that which we want to be done to ourselves, He is calling us to a completely transformed life.
It is written in the Old Testament that man is made in the image and likeness of God, the image because of reason and free will and the likeness because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Adam and Eve sinned and from that time, the Holy Spirit departed from them and death reigned and sin was a major component in the life of all men. The goal of life became self-preservation and self-indulgence, that is, men lived self-centered existence.
Now through Baptism and the Eucharist we once again receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. If, after Holy Baptism, we begin a new way of life we become a new creation and these great things our Savior speaks about in today’s Gospel passage become possible. Fallen man can work out deals of win-win, fallen man can say, if you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours, but it is only with the help of the Holy Spirit can we attain to the things our Savior is describing.
With His next words, our Savior raises the bar very high and calls us to achieve something that is extremely difficult:
But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be sons of the Most High: for He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore compassionate, as your Father also is compassionate.
From these words of our Savior we can see that our struggle is not simply to fulfill an external set of rules. Christianity is not just a moral code. The Christian life is lived in the heart and it is only through trying to manifest this new creation in our own hearts in our attempts to cooperate with grace that we can even come close to attaining to anything of what our Savior talks about in today’s gospel. How can we find it within ourselves to forgive our enemies? It is almost natural for fallen man to be vindictive and remember wrongs. How can we find it within ourselves to be compassionate as our Heavenly Father is compassionate? We cannot live according to the old man and achieve this. God became man in order to make a new creation of man. Our calling as Christians is to struggle to manifest eternity and the triumph over death and sin in our own hearts. If we fail in this virtue, we fail as Christians, if we succeed in this virtue we have hope of eternal salvation for eternity is manifested in our hearts.
It is a great struggle to transform the heart, and the only way we can overcome tendencies towards self-preservation and self-indulgence, is to experience the higher good. Saint Isaac the Syrian wrote, that ‘unless a soul is intoxicated with faith, that person cannot be healed of the malady of the senses and overcome attachment to material things.’ In other words, unless we are truly familiar with the things of God, the scripture of God, unless we have an active prayer life, unless we fight that struggle in our hearts and weep and entreat God until we find the consolation of the grace of the Holy Spirit to strengthen us, there is no way in the world we can fulfill these commands.
On this day also we celebrate the feast of the Protection of the Mother of God. This feast commemorates the vision of Saint Andrew the fool for Christ and Ephiphanius his disciple in the church of Blachernae in Constantinople. The saints saw a vision of the Mother of God spreading out her veil to cover the faithful with the grace that was given her by God. This spiritual reality is set before us in the depiction of the holy icon of the Protection of the Mother of God. In the icon the Mother of God spreads her hands over the congregation and she is encompassed by an array of many saints and intercedes in our behalf. This feast is a great encouragement for us all. We have the Mother of God and all of the saints for spiritual allies. There are times when it seems impossible and beyond human nature to overcome the raging of our hearts. We have the Mother of God who can root out evil from our hearts and protect us even from the negative inclinations found within.
So on this day let us resolve to look to our Savior and become familiar with the things of God, so that being intoxicated with faith we can lift our hearts and minds on high, even when we have to forgive our enemies, even when we are called upon to be compassionate even as our Heavenly Father is compassionate. Amen.
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Mid-Pentecost, 2007
May 2007 Metropolitan
Moses
By His Eminence, Metropolitan Moses
At Mid Feast give Thou my thirsty soul to drink of the waters of piety, for Thou O Savior didst cry unto all, whosoever is thirsty let him come to Me and drink. Wherefore O Well-Spring of Life, Christ our God, glory be to Thee.
- Dismissal Hymn for Mid-Pentecost
Beloved Christians,
Christ is risen!
We keep the feast of Mid-Pentecost, wherein we bask in the grace of Pascha and look to the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. In the dismissal for this feast we hear the voice of our Savior, as it is recorded in the Gospel, crying unto all, “Whosoever is thirsty let him come to Me and drink.” Our Savior calls, but it is for us to come unto Him. Our Savior Himself explains how this is accomplished:
If any man would do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself. He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but He that seeketh the glory of Him that sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him. (John 7: 17-18)
And thus is explained the workings of grace. By responding to our Savior’s call through doing His will, we gain the capacity to know of the doctrine of God. Our Savior warns us that there will be those that speak of themselves and seek their own glory, but they are not of God. Seekers of grace and truth need great vigilance and discernment and we are called to “Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment” (John 7: 24).
Righteous judgment acknowledges that doctrine is essential to our salvation. When He offered the Cup of Salvation, our Savior Himself said, “Drink ye all from it, this is the Blood of the New Testament.” To be united to our Christ, we must acknowledge that the Testament or saving doctrine is inextricably intertwined with Eucharist and the Eucharist is the Blood of self-sacrificing love, shed by the God-Man.
It is through the priesthood that we partake of the grace of Holy Baptism and the Sacred Eucharist. For this reason the saints taught that God’s greatest gift to mankind is the priesthood. The priesthood is an awesome ministry that is accomplished by fallible men. The human element at times intrudes into the sacred and our faithfulness is tested. We see in the history of God that many were allowed to endure much at the hands of vain men. Today we live in an age of confusion wherein churchmen act arbitrarily and Holy Tradition and Canonical order are trivialized. People lose heart and some begin to say that they “don’t believe in organized religion, etc.” Let no one be confused by this. The Church is not “a religion,” or a human construct. The Church is a mystical union with the God-Man Christ. Where there is the genuine Eucharist and self-sacrificing love, there is Christ. The exalted can fall away and the humble sinner can be lifted up. We cannot confuse the sacred ministry of the priesthood with the failings of the individual.
Our Savior Himself foretold that there would be scandal and false teachers. One can gain solace by reading the history of the people of God in Old Testament and the lives of the saints in the New Testament. At times these stories rival or surpass the scandals found in fiction. But the thread that is woven throughout is God’s call to repentance and return to His will.
Let us return unto God by our works, hearkening to the words of Saint Peter:
Be diligent to add faith to virtue and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things be in you and abound, … ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:5-8)
In Christ,
+Metropolitan Moses
--------------------------
Words of solace and a call to vigilance, by Saint Cyprian of Carthage...
At Mid Feast give Thou my thirsty soul to drink of the waters of piety, for Thou O Savior didst cry unto all, whosoever is thirsty let him come to Me and drink. Wherefore O Well-Spring of Life, Christ our God, glory be to Thee.
- Dismissal Hymn for Mid-Pentecost
Beloved Christians,
Christ is risen!
We keep the feast of Mid-Pentecost, wherein we bask in the grace of Pascha and look to the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. In the dismissal for this feast we hear the voice of our Savior, as it is recorded in the Gospel, crying unto all, “Whosoever is thirsty let him come to Me and drink.” Our Savior calls, but it is for us to come unto Him. Our Savior Himself explains how this is accomplished:
If any man would do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself. He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but He that seeketh the glory of Him that sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him. (John 7: 17-18)
And thus is explained the workings of grace. By responding to our Savior’s call through doing His will, we gain the capacity to know of the doctrine of God. Our Savior warns us that there will be those that speak of themselves and seek their own glory, but they are not of God. Seekers of grace and truth need great vigilance and discernment and we are called to “Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment” (John 7: 24).
Righteous judgment acknowledges that doctrine is essential to our salvation. When He offered the Cup of Salvation, our Savior Himself said, “Drink ye all from it, this is the Blood of the New Testament.” To be united to our Christ, we must acknowledge that the Testament or saving doctrine is inextricably intertwined with Eucharist and the Eucharist is the Blood of self-sacrificing love, shed by the God-Man.
It is through the priesthood that we partake of the grace of Holy Baptism and the Sacred Eucharist. For this reason the saints taught that God’s greatest gift to mankind is the priesthood. The priesthood is an awesome ministry that is accomplished by fallible men. The human element at times intrudes into the sacred and our faithfulness is tested. We see in the history of God that many were allowed to endure much at the hands of vain men. Today we live in an age of confusion wherein churchmen act arbitrarily and Holy Tradition and Canonical order are trivialized. People lose heart and some begin to say that they “don’t believe in organized religion, etc.” Let no one be confused by this. The Church is not “a religion,” or a human construct. The Church is a mystical union with the God-Man Christ. Where there is the genuine Eucharist and self-sacrificing love, there is Christ. The exalted can fall away and the humble sinner can be lifted up. We cannot confuse the sacred ministry of the priesthood with the failings of the individual.
Our Savior Himself foretold that there would be scandal and false teachers. One can gain solace by reading the history of the people of God in Old Testament and the lives of the saints in the New Testament. At times these stories rival or surpass the scandals found in fiction. But the thread that is woven throughout is God’s call to repentance and return to His will.
Let us return unto God by our works, hearkening to the words of Saint Peter:
Be diligent to add faith to virtue and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things be in you and abound, … ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:5-8)
In Christ,
+Metropolitan Moses
--------------------------
Words of solace and a call to vigilance, by Saint Cyprian of Carthage...
Words of solace and a call to vigilance, St. Cyprian of Carthage
May 2007 Church
Fathers
Words of solace and a call to vigilance
concerning the fact that we all need discretion and
humility and that anyone can fall away, by Saint
Cyprian of Carthage, found in his treatise,
“The Unity of the Catholic Church":
Chapter 20
Let no one marvel, most beloved brethren, that even certain of the confessors proceed to these lengths, that some also sin so wickedly and so grievously. For neither does confession (of Christ) make one immune from the snares of the devil, nor does it defend him who is still placed in the world, with a perpetual security against worldly temptations and dangers and onsets and attacks; otherwise never might we have seen afterwards among the confessors the deceptions and debaucheries and adulteries which now with groaning and sorrow we see among some. Whoever that confessor is, he is not greater or better or dearer to God than Solomon, who, however, as long as he walked in the ways of the Lord, so long retained the grace which he had received from the Lord; after he had abandoned the way of the Lord, he lost also the grace of the Lord. And so it is written: 'Hold what you have, lest another receive thy crown.' Surely the Lord would not make this threat, that the crown of righteousness can be taken away, unless, when righteousness departs, the crown also must depart.
Chapter 21
Confession is the beginning of glory, not already the merit of the crown; nor does it achieve praise, but it initiates dignity, and, since it is written; 'He that shall persevere to end, he shall be saved,' whatever has taken place before the end is a step by which the ascent is made to the summit of salvation, not the end by which the topmost point is held secure. He is a confessor, but after the confession the danger is greater, because the adversary is the more provoked. He is a confessor; for this reason he ought to stand with the Gospel of the Lord, for by the Gospel he has obtained glory from the Lord. 'To whom much is given, of him much is required'; and to whom the more dignity is allotted, from him the more service is demanded. Let no one perish through the example of a confessor, let no one learn injustice, no one insolence, no one perfidy from the habits of a confessor. He is a confessor; let him be humble and quiet, in his actions let him be modest with discipline, so that he who is called a confessor of Christ may imitate the Christ whom he confesses. For since he says: 'Everyone that exalts himself shall be humbled, and everyone that humbles himself shall be exalted,' and since he himself has been exalted by the Father, because He, the Word and the Power and the Wisdom of God the Father humbled Himself on earth, how can He love pride who even by His law enjoined humility upon us and Himself received from the Father the highest name as the reward of humility? He is a confessor of Christ, but only if afterwards the majesty and dignity of Christ be not blasphemed by him. Let not the tongue which has confessed Christ be abusive nor boisterous; let it not be heard resounding with insults and contentions; let it not after words of praise shoot forth a serpent's poisons against the brethren and priests of God. But if he later become blameworthy and abominable, if he dissipates his confession by evil conversation, if he pollutes his life with unseemly foulness, if, finally, abandoning the Church where he became a confessor and breaking the concord of its unity, he change his first faith for a later faithlessness, he cannot flatter himself by reason of his confession as if elected to the reward of glory, when by this very fact the merits of punishment have grown the more.
Chapter 20
Let no one marvel, most beloved brethren, that even certain of the confessors proceed to these lengths, that some also sin so wickedly and so grievously. For neither does confession (of Christ) make one immune from the snares of the devil, nor does it defend him who is still placed in the world, with a perpetual security against worldly temptations and dangers and onsets and attacks; otherwise never might we have seen afterwards among the confessors the deceptions and debaucheries and adulteries which now with groaning and sorrow we see among some. Whoever that confessor is, he is not greater or better or dearer to God than Solomon, who, however, as long as he walked in the ways of the Lord, so long retained the grace which he had received from the Lord; after he had abandoned the way of the Lord, he lost also the grace of the Lord. And so it is written: 'Hold what you have, lest another receive thy crown.' Surely the Lord would not make this threat, that the crown of righteousness can be taken away, unless, when righteousness departs, the crown also must depart.
Chapter 21
Confession is the beginning of glory, not already the merit of the crown; nor does it achieve praise, but it initiates dignity, and, since it is written; 'He that shall persevere to end, he shall be saved,' whatever has taken place before the end is a step by which the ascent is made to the summit of salvation, not the end by which the topmost point is held secure. He is a confessor, but after the confession the danger is greater, because the adversary is the more provoked. He is a confessor; for this reason he ought to stand with the Gospel of the Lord, for by the Gospel he has obtained glory from the Lord. 'To whom much is given, of him much is required'; and to whom the more dignity is allotted, from him the more service is demanded. Let no one perish through the example of a confessor, let no one learn injustice, no one insolence, no one perfidy from the habits of a confessor. He is a confessor; let him be humble and quiet, in his actions let him be modest with discipline, so that he who is called a confessor of Christ may imitate the Christ whom he confesses. For since he says: 'Everyone that exalts himself shall be humbled, and everyone that humbles himself shall be exalted,' and since he himself has been exalted by the Father, because He, the Word and the Power and the Wisdom of God the Father humbled Himself on earth, how can He love pride who even by His law enjoined humility upon us and Himself received from the Father the highest name as the reward of humility? He is a confessor of Christ, but only if afterwards the majesty and dignity of Christ be not blasphemed by him. Let not the tongue which has confessed Christ be abusive nor boisterous; let it not be heard resounding with insults and contentions; let it not after words of praise shoot forth a serpent's poisons against the brethren and priests of God. But if he later become blameworthy and abominable, if he dissipates his confession by evil conversation, if he pollutes his life with unseemly foulness, if, finally, abandoning the Church where he became a confessor and breaking the concord of its unity, he change his first faith for a later faithlessness, he cannot flatter himself by reason of his confession as if elected to the reward of glory, when by this very fact the merits of punishment have grown the more.
St. John Chrysostom
April 2007 Church
Fathers
Food for thought from Saint John Chrysostom on how to
carry the grace of renewal week throughout the rest
of our lives. +Metropolitan Moses
-----------
Saint John Chrysostom
GOSPEL OF SAINT MATTHEW CHAPTER 12, VERSES 38, 39.
HOMILY XLIII.
Let us show forth then a new kind of life. Let us make earth a heaven; let us hereby show the heathen, of how great blessings they are deprived. For when they behold in us good conversation, they will look upon the very face of the kingdom of Heaven. Yea, when they see us gentle, pure from wrath, from evil desire, from envy, from covetousness, rightly fulfilling all our other duties, they will say, "If the Christians are become angels here, what will they be after their departure hence? if where they are strangers they shine so bright, how great will they become when they shall have won their native land!" Thus they too will be reformed, and the word of godliness "will have free course, not less than in the apostles' times.
For if they, being twelve, converted entire cities and countries; were we all to become teachers by our careful conduct, imagine how high our cause will be exalted. For not even a dead man raised so powerfully attracts the heathen, as a person practicing self-denial. At that indeed he will be amazed, but by this he will be profited. That is done, and is past away; but this abides, and is constant culture to his soul.
Let us take heed therefore to ourselves, that we may gain them also. I say nothing burdensome. I say not, do not marry. I say not, forsake cities, and withdraw yourself from public affairs; but being engaged in them, show virtue. Yea, and such as are busy in the midst of cities, I would prefer to have more approved than such as have occupied the mountains. Why? Because great is the profit arising from that fact. "For no man lighteth a candle, and sets it under the bushel." Therefore I desire that all the candles were set upon the candlestick, that the light might wax great.
Let us kindle then His fire; let us cause them that are sitting in darkness to be delivered from their error. And tell me not, "I have a wife, and children belonging to me, and am master of a household, and cannot duly practice all this." For if you had none of these [responsibilities], yet if you are careless, all is lost; if you are surrounded by all these, yet if you are earnest, you shall attain unto virtue. For there is only one thing that is required, the preparation of a generous mind; and neither age, nor poverty, nor wealth, nor reverse of fortune, nor anything else, will be able to impede you. Since in fact both old and young, and men having wives, and bringing up children, and working at crafts, and serving as soldiers, have duly performed all that is enjoined. For so Daniel was young, and Joseph a slave, and Aquila wrought at a craft, and the woman who sold purple was over a workshop, and another was the keeper of a prison, and another a centurion, as Cornelius; and another in ill health, as Timothy; and another a runaway, as Onesimus; but nothing proved an hindrance to any of these, but all were approved, both men and women, both young and old, both slaves and free, both soldiers and people.
Let us not then make vain pretexts, but let us provide a thoroughly good mind, and whatsoever we may be, we shall surely attain to virtue, and arrive at the good things to come; by the grace and love towards man of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom be unto the Father, together with the Holy Spirit; glory, might, honor, now and ever, and world without end. Amen.
-----------
Saint John Chrysostom
GOSPEL OF SAINT MATTHEW CHAPTER 12, VERSES 38, 39.
HOMILY XLIII.
Let us show forth then a new kind of life. Let us make earth a heaven; let us hereby show the heathen, of how great blessings they are deprived. For when they behold in us good conversation, they will look upon the very face of the kingdom of Heaven. Yea, when they see us gentle, pure from wrath, from evil desire, from envy, from covetousness, rightly fulfilling all our other duties, they will say, "If the Christians are become angels here, what will they be after their departure hence? if where they are strangers they shine so bright, how great will they become when they shall have won their native land!" Thus they too will be reformed, and the word of godliness "will have free course, not less than in the apostles' times.
For if they, being twelve, converted entire cities and countries; were we all to become teachers by our careful conduct, imagine how high our cause will be exalted. For not even a dead man raised so powerfully attracts the heathen, as a person practicing self-denial. At that indeed he will be amazed, but by this he will be profited. That is done, and is past away; but this abides, and is constant culture to his soul.
Let us take heed therefore to ourselves, that we may gain them also. I say nothing burdensome. I say not, do not marry. I say not, forsake cities, and withdraw yourself from public affairs; but being engaged in them, show virtue. Yea, and such as are busy in the midst of cities, I would prefer to have more approved than such as have occupied the mountains. Why? Because great is the profit arising from that fact. "For no man lighteth a candle, and sets it under the bushel." Therefore I desire that all the candles were set upon the candlestick, that the light might wax great.
Let us kindle then His fire; let us cause them that are sitting in darkness to be delivered from their error. And tell me not, "I have a wife, and children belonging to me, and am master of a household, and cannot duly practice all this." For if you had none of these [responsibilities], yet if you are careless, all is lost; if you are surrounded by all these, yet if you are earnest, you shall attain unto virtue. For there is only one thing that is required, the preparation of a generous mind; and neither age, nor poverty, nor wealth, nor reverse of fortune, nor anything else, will be able to impede you. Since in fact both old and young, and men having wives, and bringing up children, and working at crafts, and serving as soldiers, have duly performed all that is enjoined. For so Daniel was young, and Joseph a slave, and Aquila wrought at a craft, and the woman who sold purple was over a workshop, and another was the keeper of a prison, and another a centurion, as Cornelius; and another in ill health, as Timothy; and another a runaway, as Onesimus; but nothing proved an hindrance to any of these, but all were approved, both men and women, both young and old, both slaves and free, both soldiers and people.
Let us not then make vain pretexts, but let us provide a thoroughly good mind, and whatsoever we may be, we shall surely attain to virtue, and arrive at the good things to come; by the grace and love towards man of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom be unto the Father, together with the Holy Spirit; glory, might, honor, now and ever, and world without end. Amen.
Encyclical for Great Lent, 2007
February 2007 Metropolitan
Moses
By His Eminence, Metropolitan Moses
We have very recently celebrated the great mystery of the Epiphany or appearance of the God-Man, Jesus Christ. The revelation of the Holy Trinity was made manifest, and now, because we celebrate an early Pascha this year, we are already at the portals of Great Lent and from afar we espy the Feast of feasts, the mystery of the death and resurrection of God Incarnate. How do we, men and women of the 21st century approach this mystery?
We live in a country that is confused with certain notions about what it is to be a Christian and how Christians live the spiritual life. The dominate religion in America, modernist Protestantism, carries with it the idea that the Church is personality based and entertainment oriented. The witness of Church history demonstrates that Orthodox Christianity is neither. We cannot allow ourselves to be influenced by these later day false notions, but we must nurture our souls from the wellsprings of authentic Holy Tradition in both doctrine and way of life.
One cannot separate the Christian life and spirituality from what the Russians call podvig (which means spiritual labor). There is a passage in the writings of Saint Isaac the Syrian that illustrates this point wherein he says, “Prayer without bodily labor is a miscarriage.”
We all understand the concept of physical therapy. We should all understand that, for the sake of our own spiritual therapy, it is essential for us to struggle according to our own capacity throughout our life and especially during this time of Great Lent.
I am reminded of the words of a commentator on the life of Saint Athanasius the Great, “It was not as a theologian, but as a believing soul in need of a Saviour, that Athanasius approached the mystery of Christ.” – That is, as a soul in need of saving therapy in Christ. The writer of this quote made a wise observation concerning Saint Athanasius, but what was lost on him is that this is precisely how all true theologians throughout the history of the Church approached the mystery of Christ. Neither theology or the spiritual life are exercises in abstract speculation. One must come to spiritual health in order to attain to knowledge of God.
Great Lent is a time of great opportunity. We should see the fast as a time Christians set aside for spiritual cleansing, a time to “come to ourselves” and return to the knowledge of God. We simplify our lives in order to prepare for Holy Week, so that we come to a deeper understanding of the voluntary death and resurrection of the God-Man, Jesus Christ.
Which brings us to the theme of the Second Sunday of the Triodion, the parable of the Prodigal Son. In this parable we have depicted for us the path of error and separation from God and again the path of knowledge and return unto God.
We are shown a young man who was led astray by his own wayward desires and the suggestions of the evil one, which lead him to separation from his father’s house. Because of this separation, from wealth he fell into poverty through seeking fulfillment in riotous living. This poverty was so profound that it left him completely empty spiritually. The husks of his coarse life could not fill his belly, that is, dissipation could not satisfy the inner man. Yet -- the pain of this emptiness had a positive effect on this young man and at long last he “came to himself.” When he saw how far he had fallen he did not remain there but he determined within himself to change.
His first act of change was to humble himself and begin the first four steps of repentance that are found in the Beatitudes. He became poor in spirit, he mourned, he became meek and he hungered and thirsted to once again be in his Fathers house. Through this spiritual activity he found some comfort and hope for his journey. Next, he rose up and took the long and arduous labor of the return to his Father’s house.
Along the way he rehearsed to himself exactly what he would say to his Father. “I am not worthy to be called your son. Receive me as one of your hired servants.”
Metropolitan Antony Khrapovitsky comments on this gospel passage in his book on Confession, giving us an insight into the process of genuine repentance. Metropolitan Antony exhorts the priest confessor:
It will be useful to remind the penitent of the Parable of the Prodigal Son, and ask him: "Why was the father of the lost youth so convinced of his amendment that he prepared a feast with singing, dancing and, of course, wine, without being afraid that it would start his son on another binge after his involuntary hunger and sobriety?"
"Because," you must answer, "in the first place, the Prodigal Son punished himself: he sentenced himself to the position of a hired servant, expressed his intention to become a slave instead of a master. Secondly, in order to fulfill this good resolution, he had undertaken the podvig of a long and difficult journey and the podvig of abasing himself and supplicating his father, although previously he had found it burdensome to live with his father in plenty and kindness, as he had a self-willed and unsubmissive soul.
In exactly the same way, if the Lord expressed Himself so confidently about Zaccheus — "Now is salvation come unto this house" — it was precisely because Zaccheus of his own accord, and without waiting for any demands to be made, sentenced himself to a complete mortification of his passion. He promised to perform a feat very difficult for a lover of possessions — to give away half his property and repay fourfold those he had defrauded.
Metropolitan Antony was a physician of souls and he understood the human condition quite well. Self centeredness and self-love are a barriers to repentance. Self justification and laziness springs from this destructive form of self love. How easy it is for us to simply say, “I have repented” and do nothing of any real significance towards our own spiritual healing. How easy it is to deceive ourselves into thinking we are repenting when that is not the case at all.
Repentance is not a noun, it is a verb. Repentance requires action. We can measure our repentance if we compare our actions to the actions of this repentant prodigal or Zaccheus.
The young man in the parable recognized that he misused his inheritance and the authority that came with it through dissipation and that the only way to return unto his Father was to do violence to himself and humble himself and as Metropolitan Antony put it, “become a slave instead of a master.” To put it another way, genuine repentance is demonstrated only when we recognize wherein we have sinned, take ownership for the sin and responsibility for the effects of sin and resolve to do something about it that is directly contrary to the sin. Anything less is not repentance.
But this young man did indeed repent and as it is written, “… But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.”
It is written in the scriptures that ‘a man is entangled in the chords of his own sins.’ If we seek healing from sin, we must begin by cutting the chords of our former actions by humbling ourselves and forcing ourselves to an opposite virtuous action with the sure hope that our heavenly Father will be there to receive us.
And what came next? As Metropolitan Antony pointed out, the erring son made himself a slave instead of a master and said, “Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.”
And through this, the son was fully restored, as it is written in the Gospel, “But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the first robe, and put it on him (signifying the restoration of the baptismal robe); and put a ring on his hand (signifying the gift of Holy Spirit), and sandals on his feet, (to enable him to tread upon the evil one): and bring hither the fatted calf, and slay it; and let us eat, and be merry, (signifying the Mystical Banquet of Holy Communion): for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.
We all have gone astray and wandered from God to one degree or another. Now is the time, during the Great Lent to “come to ourselves” and set our mental gaze upon the Fathers house.
It is only by entering this house that we partake of the mystery of the God-Man, Jesus Christ. Nothing is more important than this! Let us begin our return through humbling ourselves. Let us prepare for that Holiest of weeks wherein we encounter our Savior’s voluntary Passion and Death for us. Let us prepare to stand at the foot of the Cross, awestruck at the mystery of our Savior’s self-sacrificing, co-suffering love for us. Let us prepare to encounter Resurrection and Life springing forth from the tomb.
May God grant you all spiritual increase and may you all have a soul profiting Great Lent and a radiant Pascha, through the grace and love for man of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ and of the Father and Holy Spirit. Amen.
We have very recently celebrated the great mystery of the Epiphany or appearance of the God-Man, Jesus Christ. The revelation of the Holy Trinity was made manifest, and now, because we celebrate an early Pascha this year, we are already at the portals of Great Lent and from afar we espy the Feast of feasts, the mystery of the death and resurrection of God Incarnate. How do we, men and women of the 21st century approach this mystery?
We live in a country that is confused with certain notions about what it is to be a Christian and how Christians live the spiritual life. The dominate religion in America, modernist Protestantism, carries with it the idea that the Church is personality based and entertainment oriented. The witness of Church history demonstrates that Orthodox Christianity is neither. We cannot allow ourselves to be influenced by these later day false notions, but we must nurture our souls from the wellsprings of authentic Holy Tradition in both doctrine and way of life.
One cannot separate the Christian life and spirituality from what the Russians call podvig (which means spiritual labor). There is a passage in the writings of Saint Isaac the Syrian that illustrates this point wherein he says, “Prayer without bodily labor is a miscarriage.”
We all understand the concept of physical therapy. We should all understand that, for the sake of our own spiritual therapy, it is essential for us to struggle according to our own capacity throughout our life and especially during this time of Great Lent.
I am reminded of the words of a commentator on the life of Saint Athanasius the Great, “It was not as a theologian, but as a believing soul in need of a Saviour, that Athanasius approached the mystery of Christ.” – That is, as a soul in need of saving therapy in Christ. The writer of this quote made a wise observation concerning Saint Athanasius, but what was lost on him is that this is precisely how all true theologians throughout the history of the Church approached the mystery of Christ. Neither theology or the spiritual life are exercises in abstract speculation. One must come to spiritual health in order to attain to knowledge of God.
Great Lent is a time of great opportunity. We should see the fast as a time Christians set aside for spiritual cleansing, a time to “come to ourselves” and return to the knowledge of God. We simplify our lives in order to prepare for Holy Week, so that we come to a deeper understanding of the voluntary death and resurrection of the God-Man, Jesus Christ.
Which brings us to the theme of the Second Sunday of the Triodion, the parable of the Prodigal Son. In this parable we have depicted for us the path of error and separation from God and again the path of knowledge and return unto God.
We are shown a young man who was led astray by his own wayward desires and the suggestions of the evil one, which lead him to separation from his father’s house. Because of this separation, from wealth he fell into poverty through seeking fulfillment in riotous living. This poverty was so profound that it left him completely empty spiritually. The husks of his coarse life could not fill his belly, that is, dissipation could not satisfy the inner man. Yet -- the pain of this emptiness had a positive effect on this young man and at long last he “came to himself.” When he saw how far he had fallen he did not remain there but he determined within himself to change.
His first act of change was to humble himself and begin the first four steps of repentance that are found in the Beatitudes. He became poor in spirit, he mourned, he became meek and he hungered and thirsted to once again be in his Fathers house. Through this spiritual activity he found some comfort and hope for his journey. Next, he rose up and took the long and arduous labor of the return to his Father’s house.
Along the way he rehearsed to himself exactly what he would say to his Father. “I am not worthy to be called your son. Receive me as one of your hired servants.”
Metropolitan Antony Khrapovitsky comments on this gospel passage in his book on Confession, giving us an insight into the process of genuine repentance. Metropolitan Antony exhorts the priest confessor:
It will be useful to remind the penitent of the Parable of the Prodigal Son, and ask him: "Why was the father of the lost youth so convinced of his amendment that he prepared a feast with singing, dancing and, of course, wine, without being afraid that it would start his son on another binge after his involuntary hunger and sobriety?"
"Because," you must answer, "in the first place, the Prodigal Son punished himself: he sentenced himself to the position of a hired servant, expressed his intention to become a slave instead of a master. Secondly, in order to fulfill this good resolution, he had undertaken the podvig of a long and difficult journey and the podvig of abasing himself and supplicating his father, although previously he had found it burdensome to live with his father in plenty and kindness, as he had a self-willed and unsubmissive soul.
In exactly the same way, if the Lord expressed Himself so confidently about Zaccheus — "Now is salvation come unto this house" — it was precisely because Zaccheus of his own accord, and without waiting for any demands to be made, sentenced himself to a complete mortification of his passion. He promised to perform a feat very difficult for a lover of possessions — to give away half his property and repay fourfold those he had defrauded.
Metropolitan Antony was a physician of souls and he understood the human condition quite well. Self centeredness and self-love are a barriers to repentance. Self justification and laziness springs from this destructive form of self love. How easy it is for us to simply say, “I have repented” and do nothing of any real significance towards our own spiritual healing. How easy it is to deceive ourselves into thinking we are repenting when that is not the case at all.
Repentance is not a noun, it is a verb. Repentance requires action. We can measure our repentance if we compare our actions to the actions of this repentant prodigal or Zaccheus.
The young man in the parable recognized that he misused his inheritance and the authority that came with it through dissipation and that the only way to return unto his Father was to do violence to himself and humble himself and as Metropolitan Antony put it, “become a slave instead of a master.” To put it another way, genuine repentance is demonstrated only when we recognize wherein we have sinned, take ownership for the sin and responsibility for the effects of sin and resolve to do something about it that is directly contrary to the sin. Anything less is not repentance.
But this young man did indeed repent and as it is written, “… But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.”
It is written in the scriptures that ‘a man is entangled in the chords of his own sins.’ If we seek healing from sin, we must begin by cutting the chords of our former actions by humbling ourselves and forcing ourselves to an opposite virtuous action with the sure hope that our heavenly Father will be there to receive us.
And what came next? As Metropolitan Antony pointed out, the erring son made himself a slave instead of a master and said, “Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.”
And through this, the son was fully restored, as it is written in the Gospel, “But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the first robe, and put it on him (signifying the restoration of the baptismal robe); and put a ring on his hand (signifying the gift of Holy Spirit), and sandals on his feet, (to enable him to tread upon the evil one): and bring hither the fatted calf, and slay it; and let us eat, and be merry, (signifying the Mystical Banquet of Holy Communion): for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.
We all have gone astray and wandered from God to one degree or another. Now is the time, during the Great Lent to “come to ourselves” and set our mental gaze upon the Fathers house.
It is only by entering this house that we partake of the mystery of the God-Man, Jesus Christ. Nothing is more important than this! Let us begin our return through humbling ourselves. Let us prepare for that Holiest of weeks wherein we encounter our Savior’s voluntary Passion and Death for us. Let us prepare to stand at the foot of the Cross, awestruck at the mystery of our Savior’s self-sacrificing, co-suffering love for us. Let us prepare to encounter Resurrection and Life springing forth from the tomb.
May God grant you all spiritual increase and may you all have a soul profiting Great Lent and a radiant Pascha, through the grace and love for man of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ and of the Father and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Enyclical for the Nativity of Christ, 2006
January 2007 Metropolitan
Moses
By His Eminence, Metropolitan Moses
Thy Nativity, O
Christ our God, hath shined the light of knowledge
upon the world: for thereby they that worshipped the
stars were instructed by a star to worship Thee, the
Sun of Righteousness, and to know Thee, the Dayspring
from on high. O Lord, glory be to Thee.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit. Amen.
Beloved Orthodox Christians,
Angels proclaim God’s great wonders and the
humble shepherds rich in faith seek out the new born
Savior, Christ the Lord. And as we hear in the gospel
appointed for liturgy things new and old are
revealed, for the star leads the wise men to
Jerusalem and they proclaimed the marvel to the King
and his court
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in
the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise
men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is He
that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen His
star in the east, and are come to worship Him. When
Herod the king had heard these things, he was
troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. (Matt
2:1-3)
All things are made new at these glad tidings. Truth
Incarnate appeared and the promise of the ages was
fulfilled and the light of God-knowledge shined upon
the world, yet Herod the king was troubled, and all
Jerusalem with him. Perhaps it is understandable that
the king would be troubled concerning a star and a
prophecy that declared a new king promised from of
old, but how was it that all Jerusalem, that is,
those for whom the promise was made of old were
troubled and perplexed? Was there no one that showed
a pious interest and followed the wise men? The
humble shepherds sought out the new born Christ and
in contrast to this, the spiritual leaders of
Jerusalem, the chief priests and scribes showed no
interest and failed to follow the wise men. This,
even after they proclaimed the prophesies from of
old:
And when he had gathered all the chief priests
and scribes of the people together, he demanded of
them where Christ should be born. And they said unto
him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written
by the Prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of
Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah:
for out of thee shall come a Ruler, who shall
shepherd My people Israel. (Matt 2: 4-6)
If one was a believer in the prophecy, one would also
believe that the God of Israel Himself was setting in
motion deliverance for the people of Israel. Yet, if
one had one’s own comfort and status as
one’s his highest priority, then this could
have been bad news indeed.
How is it that the very priests were so deceived? Our
Savior Himself gives us insight into why when he
addressed the multitude, “How can ye believe,
which receive glory one of another, and seek not the
glory that cometh from the only God?” (John 5:
44)
The Lord is God and has appeared unto us and His
manifestation separates lovers of God from lovers of
this world. Perhaps there were those in Jerusalem
that considered themselves believers or gave lip
service to some form of belief, yet there was
something in their lives that became a higher
priority than remaining faithful to the Covenant with
God or His prophesies. All we have to do is to look
around us at many of the Orthodox leaders today and
their betrayal of Orthodox ecclesiology to understand
that there are many variations on this theme. Alas,
people are confronted with the light of God-knowledge
and the teachings of the Holy Fathers on the Church,
and they turn their eyes away.
Lest we imitate them we must, in our own day,
consider what is best for Israel, the people of God,
the Church. Our Savior came not for those who are
wise in their own conceits, not for those who are
full. If we are to be saved we must seek God on His
terms, not ours. Christianity is not convenient. In
order to be saved during these last times, each and
every one of us, young men and elders must imitate
Saint Paul when he was confronted by our Savior
outside of the walls of Damascus and likewise say,
“Lord, what will Thou have me to do?”
(Acts 9:6)
There are times when a stand for truth can bring
temptations. When we are tempted to backslide or
compromise in times of temptations let us look to the
Babe in the manger Who, shortly after His birth,
became a refugee to flee the wrath of the tyrant. Our
Savior’s life is example enough for us, if we
desire to be faithful to Him.
We Orthodox are few indeed, but we should always
rejoice and remain steadfast. If we suffer
temptations from the world, let us not be confused.
As Ignatius of Antioch wrote in his epistle to Saint
Polycarp of Smyrna:
Let not those who seem worthy of credit, but
teach strange doctrines, fill thee with apprehension.
Stand firm, as does an anvil which is beaten. It is
the part of a noble athlete to be wounded, and yet to
conquer. And especially, we ought to bear all things
for the sake of God, that He also may bear with us.
Be ever becoming more zealous than what thou art.
Weigh carefully the times. Look for Him who is above
all time, eternal and invisible, yet who became
visible for our sakes; impalpable and impassible, yet
who became passible on our account; and who in every
kind of way suffered for our sakes.
--Epistle of Saint
Ignatius of Antioch to Saint Polycarp of Smyrna
Chapter 3
During these days of rejoicing let us give thanks to
our God Who, being above all time, entered time for
our sakes. Our Christ became Incarnate so that we may
commune with Him. Let us weigh carefully the times by
striving to receive the light of God-knowledge
through our careful sifting of the writings of the
Holy Fathers, that by so doing we may walk in the
light of His Truth and may partake of His Body and
Blood. Amen.