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Orthodoxy and the Poor

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Mother Maria of Paris
Mother Maria of Paris

“A person should have a more attentive attitude toward his brother’s flesh than toward his own. Christian love teaches us to give our brother not only material but also spiritual gifts. We must give him our last shirt and our last crust of bread. Here personal charity is as necessary and justified as the broadest social work. In this sense there is no doubt that the Christian is called to social work. He is called to organize a better life for the workers, to provide for the old, to build hospitals, care for the children, fight against exploitation, injustice, want, lawlessness. In principle the value is completely the same, whether he acts on an individual or social level; what matters is that his social work be based on love for his neighbour and not have any latent career or material purposes. For the rest it is always justified – from personal aid to working on a national scale, from concrete attention to an individual person to an understanding of abstract system for the correct organization of social life. The love of man demands one thing from us in this area: ascetic ministry to his material needs, attentive and responsible work, a sober and unsentimental awareness of our strength and of its true usefulness.” (Excerpt taken: Mother Maria Skobtsova, Essential Writings)

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No Place for Lukewarm Orthodoxy

Posted on by Fr. Peter

There is no doubt, that from an Orthodox Christian perspective, our nation is in the midst of a moral crisis.  All one needs to do is look around at the way women degrade themselves, internet pornography takes in more money a year than all of professional sports combined and that is just to name a few.  Orthodox Christianity, if practiced in a loving spiritual way as it was intended, can being a light into the darkness of this fallen world we live in.  But Orthodox Christians have to be prepared for this.

In a recent talk, His Eminence Metropolitan Methodios of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Boston took Orthodox Christians to task for being Luke Warm.

“People today fashion their personal beliefs by integrating Orthodox and non-Orthodox elements. Without realizing it, they become ‘cafeteria Christians.’ Just as they do not partake of every food item in a cafeteria line — but only those foods which they like — in the same way they feel they can pick and choose from what Orthodoxy teaches. … Let me be clear: Core teachings of our faith are not subject to popularity polls or political correctness.”

It is not easy to be an Orthodox Christian.  Our faith requires a lifestyle change and requires one to recommit their lives to this change each and every day.  Orthodoxy, by its very nature, is counter cultural.  Orthodoxy requires us to be somewhat removed from the culture around us.  We try and influence the culture but we cannot allow the culture to influence us.  Just because something is fashionable does not make it right.

The big problem with all of this is that there is a lack of basic understanding of what Orthodoxy teaches.  Metropolitan Methodios continues, “The truth is that many brethren sitting in the pews of our parishes are not knowledgeable of even the basic teachings of Orthodoxy.” This is a problem that needs to be addressed.  Before we can evangelize the world we need to evangelize the Church!  Before we can gain coverts to Orthodoxy we need to convert the Orthodox!

There seems to be certain topics that we have to stay away from for fear of upsetting people and turning them away from the Church.  Well, not everyone that Jesus spoke to believed what He had to say and more people were turned off by His words than turned on by them.  We cannot be concerned about numbers that is what the Protestants do; we need to be concerned about the lack of education in the average American Orthodox Church.  We should not set out to enrage people but to engage them.  There are certain truths about Orthodoxy that fly in the face of our modern culture and we should not be afraid to talk about them. When Orthodox Christians stray from the pack, we need to bring them back with understanding and love just as Jesus did.

A consequence of this is that we look to the government to do what we have been unable to do.  Because we refuse to talk about the Churches position on Abortion, same sex marriage, and a host of other issues, we ask the government to pass laws to make these practices illegal.  If we spent more time looking after our own spiritual wellbeing and less time worrying about what others are doing, I believe, the world would be a much better place.

It is refreshing to hear an Orthodox Bishop say what was said in the talk.  He is calling us to Re Evangelize the Church and to Re Catechize the Church!  Orthodoxy has so much to give to this fallen world we live in but if our own do not understand, and believe, what the Church teaches then we simply become just another Church, and we are anything but just another Church.

The time has come for us as a Church, to take a long hard look at what we do and how we do it.  What message are we sending to the world when we condemn others but, so called Orthodox politicians are not called out for their public beliefs and votes, but are honored by Orthodox agencies and given awards for their work!  When we do this we become hypocrites and it injures the message of the Gospel.  Sure we can justify it by saying they do so much good, but if they are not living the Gospel, as presented by the Orthodox Church they claim to belong to, then their works are dead and should not be exulted in any forum.

This is not done from a position of hatred but it has to come from a position of love.  We love and care for all and when they are harming themselves in a physical or a spiritual sense, then this love draws us to action.  Follow the Scripture and correct in private and if that does not work then they need to be corrected publically.  Orthodox leaders, at all levels, need to set the example for the Orthodox or they will be confused and open to the advances of the evil one.

We need to let the Paschal light shine bring inside ourselves.  Orthodox need to return to the Sacrament of Confession on a regular basis, Orthodox clergy need to preach what the Church teaches and why the Church teaches it, not for condemnation, but for illumination of the faithful.  We need to spend more time in the confessional and pulpit and less time walking the halls of power in Washington or our state capitols.  Conversion happens one person at a time and we cannot legislate morals any more than we can legislate charity.

The bottom line is it is time for the Orthodox to be Orthodox, not some watered down lukewarm version of modern American Orthodoxy.  We need an Orthodoxy in America that is on fire and willing to set themselves apart from the rest of society and be the witness that our world so desperately needs.

“So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.” Revelation 3:16

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An Eastern Orthodox Case for Property Rights

Posted on by Fr. Peter

fr-gregory-jensen-150x150Source: Action Institute | Fr. Gregory Jensen

As a pastor, I’ve been struck by the hostility, or at least suspicion, that some Orthodox Christians reveal in their discussions of private property. While there are no doubt many reasons for this disconnect, I think a central factor is a lack of appreciation for the role that private property can, and does, play in fostering human flourishing. It is through the wise and prudent use of our property that we are able to give ourselves over in love to the next generation and so give them the possiblity of likewise transcending a purely material way of life through an act of self-donation. Economists Terry Anderson and Laura Huggins, in Property Rights: A Practical Guide to Freedom and Prosperity  (Hoover Institution, 2009), are right when they remind us that while not a panacea, “property rights to oneself (human capital), one’s investments (physical capital), or one’s ideas (intellectual capital), secure claims to assets” and so “give people the ability to make their own decisions, reaping the benefits of good choices and bearing the costs of bad ones.” In part, I think the hesitancy among some Orthodox Christians to embrace a robust understanding and application of property rights reflects an uncritical reading of the patristic witness. I have in mind here specifically the homilies of St. John Chrysostom in which the saint is often critical of how some abuse their wealth. But as recent scholarship has demonstrated, his argument is more subtle than we might at first think. As with other Church fathers, Chrysostom is not a proponent of abolishing private property but of its morally right use.

We see this especially in his teaching on almsgiving where he distinguishes between “beggars” (ptōchoi) and what today we call the working poor (penētes). For the latter, the Church’s intervention aims at helping the working poor obtain a degree of economic independence so that they too can meet their own personal familial obligations. Thus anything that undermines our ability to work is morally evil and the Church must seek to correct it. As for those who, objectively, are unable to care for themselves because they can’t work, yes, the Church has an obligation to care for for them — but this doesn’t exhaust Chrysostom’s economic argument. Like members of the working poor, the small middle class and the even smaller upper class, the beggar is expected to allieviate the suffering of others in whatever way his circumstances make possible. According to Eric Coztanzo in his study of St. John Chrysostom, “John exhorted the wealthy and the poor to participate” in almsgiving “as an act of virtue.” In any case, while Chrysostom speaks in terms of the morally good use of wealth, it is a standard inconceivable apart from private property and, as his understanding of the moral obligation of even the poorest Christian suggests, there is no one so poor as to be wholly without any personal wealth even if that wealth is other than material.

Social Dimensions

One thinker who can help us understand more fully the anthropological vision that underlies Chrysostom’s argument is the 19th century Russian Orthodox philospher Vladimir Solovyov. Though he doesn’t engage Chrysostom’s sermons, Solovyov advances an argument that helps us understand why for the saint even the materially poor are obligated to participate in the philanthropic work of the Church. Specifically, I have in mind Solovyov’s broader argument that our right to property and to use it as we see fit (within the limits of the moral law) reflects our ability (1) to think, (2) to recognize ourselves in our own thoughts, and (3) to recognize our thoughts as distinct from ourselves. These are qualities that are not limited to the middle class or much the wealthy but are common to all human beings, including the very poorest among us.

Though he begins with the thinking subject, Solovyov is no Cartesian and is sensitive to the social dimension of the person and so of property.  While all “the acute questions of the economic life are closely connected with the idea of property,” the question of property itself “belongs to the sphere of jurisprudence, morality, and psychology rather than to that of economic relations” in the narrow sense. Moreover, all human wealth – not just material but intellectual, spiritual, and cultural – is always at least partially inherited.  The Russian philosopher observed, in his The Justification of the Good: An Essay on Moral Philosophy, that if “it were not for the intentional and voluntary handing down of what has been acquired, we should have only a physical succession of generations, the later repeating the life of the former, as is the case with animals.” Inherited wealth has potential to humanize us because it embodies and communicates the “moral interaction in the most intimate and the most fundamental social group,” the family. As the “embodiment of pity” (i.e., philanthropy, compassion and love) inherited wealth transcends “the grave” making tangible the parents’ love “for their children” while at the same time serving as “a concrete point of departure for a pious memory of the departed parents.”

Solovyov concludes by arguing that “it is not sufficient to recognise the ideal character which obviously attaches to such property: it is necessary to strengthen and develop this character” through the protection of personal property rights. It is only in this way that we can hope to combat the sinful human tendency to treat “the earth as a lifeless instrument of rapacious exploitation; the plots of land handed down from one generation to another must, in principle, be made inalienable and sufficient to maintain in each person a moral attitude towards the earth.” While his last assertion is problematic — how precisely does one guarantee sufficient land for subsequent generations simply through inheritance? — nevertheless whatever the practical challenges, Solovyov  is clear that private property is key to protecting human dignity and to creating a just society, both civil and religious.

Given the pressing need to undo the economic, and more importantly moral and spiritual, damage done during the Soviet era, it is not suprising that the Russian Orthodox Church affirms the right to property. The Moscow Patriarchate in its 2000 document, “The Basis of the Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church” teaches that private property is essential to both a just civil society and the Church’s own ministries. Property, or more broadly wealth, is “God’s gift given to be used for [our] own and [our] neighbor’s benefit” (VII.2). The right to private property is “a socially recognized form of people’s relationship to the fruits of their labour and to natural resources” that under normal circumstances includes not only “the right to … use property” but also “to control and collect income” from one’s property and “to dispose of, lease, modify or liquidate property” (VII.1). While acknowledging that in a fallen world the creation of wealth and the right to private property can “produce … sinful phenomena” when undertaken in ways that are not “proper and morally justified” (VII.3), the Church stresses that this does not justify the dissolution of property rights or income re-distribution since “the alienation and re-distribution of property” violates “the rights of its legitimate owners” (VII.3).

To be clear, property rights are not a panacea – protecting and enhancing private ownership will not cure all that ails us personally or socially. Nor can we separate the exercise of our right to property from the moral law or, for Christians, the Gospel. But Orthodox social thought does I think allow us to make a convincing case that property rights are a key element of human flourishing, a necessary ingredient of a just society, and an aid to Christian ministry. Rooted as it is in human nature, it is also a right that can help us see the dignity of all members of the human family and of the ability that all of us – rich or poor, male or female, young or old –  have to serve the flourishing of those around us, our society and the Church.

Fr. Gregory Jensen is an Orthodox priest and blogs at Koinonia.

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Good Works or Bad Works

Posted on by Fr. Peter

This past Sunday, the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost, the Epistle reading comes from St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians chapter 2.  In this chapter St. Paul writes that it is not works that will see you a place in heaven for we are chosen by grace and not by what we do, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves” (v. 8).  But does this mean that we are not required to do anything?  Jesus tells us to love our neighbor and He tells us to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, and visit those in hospital and prison.  Why does Jesus ask us to perform these “works” if it will not help us and our salvation?

We cannot earn our way in, for lack of a better term, but Christianity requires that we put our faith in action.  St. James tells us that faith without works is dead.  We cannot call ourselves Christians and then not do anything with it for it is not about us but about others.  How we treat others and what we do for them is directly related to our own faith.

But, St. Paul would distinguish between works that are dead and works that are alive.

Dead works would be those of the flesh such as murder, adultery, fornication (that is sexual relations outside of marriage and yes, is a sin) worship of idols (including possessions and money) robbery, etc.  These are works that are done for the wrong reasons mostly for ourselves and calling attention to ourselves.  We do good not so we can boast but for the good that we do.  These are works that would come from a selfish motivation.  What is the reason we are doing whatever it is that we are doing.  Unless we are doing out of love, then it is a dead work.

My parish has been hosting a Community Meal for the last four years.  Twice a month we invite the community into our parish hall and serve them a free meal.  The week before Thanksgiving we serve a full meal with all of the fixins for Thanksgiving.  I am amazed at the number of people who will call and ask if they can come and volunteer.  Although we always need volunteers we need them all year long not just at Thanksgiving.  I tell them to come each month for a year and then they can come and help at Thanksgiving.  Showing up at the holidays is not helping others it is helping you!  Jesus did not tell us to help others only during the holidays but at all times.

Another example is fasting.  We fast for the spiritual benefit and nothing else.  If, during that fast, someone offers you something to eat that is not part of the fast and you refuse saying, “no thank you I am fasting” you draw attention to your fasting and it becomes worthless.  Simply say, “no thank you” and leave it at that.  If we draw attention to ourselves and what we are doing, like the Pharisee, then our works are dead and worthless.

Living works ate those works that are done for the nothing else but the glory of God and for the good themselves and not for the reward that we might obtain from them.  Sure, the warm fuzzy is okay, but that should not be the ultimate reason we do it.

The things that we do, the works that we perform, should be a natural outgrowth of our Orthodox spirituality.  Christianity requires us to move into action and that action is serving others for the glory of God.  There is a reward for us in all of this and that is the things we do contribute to our faith, when we put our faith in action, when we live the Gospel in actions and not just in words, this contributes to our faithfulness and our spirituality.  Putting our faith in action extends the Kingdom of God and contributes to our faith.

Works themselves will not get us into heaven, we cannot earn our way in that price has already been paid, but the works that we do, or do not do, directly relate to our spirituality.  If we are living a spiritually balanced life, that is a life that is lived not for us but for others, then we will be moved to do something relying on the strength of God springing from our spirituality but it is something that we have to work at.

As Christians we are to dedicate our lives, each and every day, to the work of God and the building up of His kingdom by loving those around us.  Showing care and concern for others, not expecting anything in return, is living the Gospel with actions and not just words and is done for the Glory of God.  If we can do this then are works are living otherwise they are dead.

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Heartland ~ A Review

Posted on by Fr. Peter

heartland.jpg-pic3

If you follow me in any of the Social Media platforms that I presently use, Facebook & Twitter, you will know that I am a fan of television.  Many of the programs on television today are junk and show the decline in our morals as a society, but sometimes you come upon a program that is wholesome and family oriented and Heartland is just that kind of program.

Heartland takes place in Alberta Canada and follows the trials and tribulations of the Bartlett/Fleming family running their 600 acre horse ranch.  What separates this ranch from the ones that surround them is that it is a ranch that rehabilitates horses that have been injured in some way.  They take horses in and nurse them back to health using centuries old remedies and just plain care.

What is amazing about the program is that the women, and there are two strong women leading characters, do not have to degrade themselves by wearing skimpy clothing and jumping into the sack with every ranch hand on the spread.  I am half way through season 2 and I have yet to even see a hint that this is going on.  Sure there are romantic interests between characters but they seem to keep their clothes on and not sleep together.  What a pleasant shift from American TV where women feel they only way they will succeed is by degrading themselves and making themselves objects rather than humans created in the Image and Likeness of God.  I cannot for the life of me, understand why American women stand for this nonsense.  Shows like “Two Broke Girls” (I will admit I have never watched the program only watched the trailers) does nothing but objectify women and degrade them, why American women are not up in arms over this I will never understand.

But I digress.

What stands out as one of the hallmarks of Heartland is that it teaches that simple living and an understanding of nature, and our role in all of that, is actually a better way to live.  The large, corporate ranch down the street is 100 times larger and has more money, but they cannot compete with Heartland and their simple way of life.

In our materialistic, secular world it is nice to see a program that puts forth basic family values and simple living, not as some group of crack pots as so often is the case on American television, but portrays it as just that, wholesome family living.  The family has its problems but they work them out together with love and understanding not sex, drugs, and rock and roll!

If you are looking for great entertainment, I highly recommend Heartland.

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What is Important

Posted on by Fr. Peter

Over the last few weeks I have been thinking about what is really important.  As you know we serve a meal here at our Church twice a month.  The meal is offered free to people in the community who are in need in one way or another.  It might be economic or it might be that the person is alone, whatever the reason, they come and in increasing numbers.  Many of the people who come are just trying to survive life in this crazy world we are living in.

If you have been paying any attention at all to the news then you are aware of the horrible situation in the Middle East.  That part of the world that seems to always be at war and once again, civilians are caught in the middle.  Muslims, Jews, Christians are all under fire and being killed in the streets for being on the wrong side.  Yes the Christian population is taking the hardest hit but we must be concerned for all involved and pray that this situation come to an end and soon.

Natural disasters, children dying, family health issues all add to my mind and my thoughts about what is important in life and how we should go about doing what we do.

I have been very impressed the Pope Francis and his desire to reform the Church.  He is taking the call of St. Francis in a serious way and he is making people nervous.  I do not think he is going to make the change that many would like, I do not think you will see women priests or the end of the celibate priesthood for example, but there is a change afoot.

Recently he spoke about the focus of the Church and made some comments about emphasizing the rules over love of individuals.  In Orthodoxy we would call this economia or Orthodox Praxis.  We are certainly a Church a rules, if you think the Church of Rome has rules check us out sometime, and I agree that rules are important, but I think we sometimes hide behind those rules too much.  Sometimes the rules make us very judgmental and we lose sight of the person standing before us.

In my sermon this past Sunday, I spoke about how Jesus interacted with people.  Jesus talked to everyone, and from my read of Scripture, He did not judge them.  Sure He told them their life might not be going in the right direction but He never judged them, He simply loved them and it was that love that people were attracted too.

The Church of the day was very harsh and the Church leaders of the day were corrupt and did not have the best interest of the people in mind all of the time, this is the Church that Jesus came to reform and He reformed it with love.  What Pope Francis is talking about it the same thing, not a change in theology or doctrine or even in practice, but what he is talking about is how we interact with people.  I know it is a cliché but, what the world needs now is love!

I am not saying that we need to change the rules, far from it, but what I am advocating is that we place less emphasis on the rules and more emphasis on the simplicity of the Gospel message and that is love.  You can be the best faster in the world, you can follow the rules to the finest point, read labels to ensure that there is no a speck of meat in what you are going to eat, but if you despise your fellow man then you might as well eat that meat.  I am as guilty of this as the next guy and that is the problem.

In today’s local paper there is a story about the color of a building located in downtown Southbridge.  For as long as I have lived here this building has been an eyesore right in the middle of downtown, it is one of the first buildings you see when you drive into town.  The man who purchased the building, and I know him, painted the building a striking yellow color and it has attracted some comments from the leadership in the town.  Maybe it is a bit too bright but the building has been saved, it is one of the oldest buildings in town, and it will bring in some news businesses to our town.  But we are focused on the color of the building!

We have a high unemployment rate, almost 15% of the population lives at or below the poverty level, most of the stores down town are vacant, taxes are on the rise, the school system is underperforming, crime is on the rise and we are choosing to focus on the color of a building down town, so I ask, what is really important?

I will continue to think about what is important and I will continue to ask the questions, some of you might get upset by this and that is fine, but I believe that as a church we need to refocus our attention on what is important and that is people and loving them, as Jesus taught us.

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College Student Sunday coming up soon!

Posted on by Fr. Peter

CSS

(OCF) – On Sunday, September 15, 2013 parishes across North America will celebrate College Student Sunday (CSS) — recognizing our college students and bringing awareness to Orthodox campus ministry!

National statistics report as many as 60% of Christian students who leave for college never return to Church. To counteract this trend, OCF is on the frontlines of campuses engaging our students in the Orthodox faith through fellowship, education, worship, and service. Through this four-tiered approach, college students who participate in OCF make their way from schools to parishes spiritually stronger and ready to serve.

With the support of every parish, OCF can accomplish their CSS goal of raising $20,000 by asking parishes to promote Orthodox campus ministry and pass the tray on Sunday, September 15, 2013. Included at the bottom of this page are all the materials needed — bulletin inserts and the OCF Chapter Locator — to make College Student Sunday 2013 a success.

A commitment to support OCF is a commitment to sustain local parish life. A commitment to support OCF is a commitment to seeing the Orthodox Church flourish in North America, both now and in the future. And most importantly, a commitment to support OCF is a commitment to strengthening the lives of thousands of young people in a transitional time, empowering them to live lives full of grace, mercy, love, and service for Jesus Christ!

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IOCC Aid Helps Newly Displaced Families In Syria

Posted on by Fr. Peter

IOCC

Baltimore, MD (IOCC) — Throngs of displaced Syrians crowd before the gates of an Orthodox church in the coastal governorate of Tartous, awaiting their turns to register for humanitarian assistance at one of the four offices IOCC and the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East (GOPA) have established in the governorate to assist with the influx of people needing aid. IOCC is responding to the most urgent humanitarian needs of thousands of displaced families who have sought the relative safety of Tartous from areas of intense conflict in Homs, Aleppo and Idlib. IOCC/GOPA volunteers work diligently to register the thousands of weary and homeless Syrian people who gather daily seeking food, shelter and basic household items like bedding and blankets. More than 3,300 displaced families have been registered to receive assistance such as housing support, crisis counseling, and remedial classes at a makeshift school for 500 displaced children. In response to the needs of the growing number of Syrian families arriving to Tartous and other governorates, IOCC is working to expand the assistance it is providing.

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Sermon ~ The Shield of Those in Trouble and Need

Posted on by Fr. Peter

Today we celebrate one of the great feasts on the Church calendar, the return of Sunday football!  As hard as it is to believe, and with the Red Sox riding on top of a high wave, especially after absolutely taking the Yankees to school this weekend, the fall of the year is upon us and we have much to be thankful for.

But seriously, today we do celebrate on the great feasts of the Orthodox Church, the Nativity of the Theotokos and we have been called on this day, to pray for peace in the Middle East.  As we sit here in relative comfort War Ship from the United States, and now Russia and China, are poised off the coast of Syria to strike if given the go ahead.

In a letter sent to the Bishops and Clergy, His Beatitude our Patriarch Daniel, has asked us to pray during the Liturgy on this feast day “Because peace is more and more threatened at present, we address an appeal to prayer for peace on the Feast of the Birth of the Mother of God, the protector of those in distress and need, ‘the joy and reconciliation of the world’”.

His Beatitude reminds us that all Christians have a moral obligation to pray for peace, and as I reminded you last week, the entire Divine Liturgy is to point us in that very direction.  The opening line of the Liturgy is “in peace let us pray to the Lord.”  The image of the Theotokos stands before us as an example of that reconciliation.

In our Orthodox Theology, the Theotokos is called the New Eve.  The Theotokos brought back together what the first Eve tore apart through sin.  Through her willingness to serve God above all else, she became the vessel that brought forth the savior of the world.  Just as Eve brought sin and death into the world the Theotokos brought reconciliation and life to the world.  We ask for her intervention that a peaceful solution is found and that the horror and sin of war is averted not just here, but around the world.

But we should not only pray for peace in far off places we need to pray for peace right here, inside of each of us.  Many of the problems we face in the world today are man-made.  Because of that disobedience and pride of our first parents, we have a propensity toward sin, our lives are pointed in the direction of doing what is best for us rather than what is best for those around us.

Again we can turn to the image of the Theotokos.  Here was a young girl, no more than a teenager, and she chose to do what was being asked of her by God.  She had no clue what was to happen to her, by Jewish law and custom she could have been stoned to death, but she chose to do as God was asking her to do.  She witnessed many of the miracles that her Son, our Savior, performed and she heard His preaching and she stood at the foot of the Cross and watched her Son be crucified for no reason.  She was there through it all because God asked her to.

She was able to do all of this because of the peace that she had inside.  While the entire world was falling apart around her, she was able to remain the source of peace to those around her.  We need to find that peace that dwells within each of us; we need to pray for that peace.  Some of us sitting here today are in a struggle with others and with ourselves.  Tradition tells us that before we even enter the Church we should be reconciled to those around us so we can truly pray to the Lord in Peace.  If we are harboring any animosity toward our fellow human beings then we cannot pray in peace as our soul will not be at rest.  When we try to pray, the evil one will use those thoughts as a distraction and call our attention away from that peace that we all so desperately need.  The Theotokos can be that example for us in the world gone mad.  She stands as the great reconciler bringing back to her Son those who have been lost.  I feel sorry for those who have reduced her role to just the mother of Jesus or who do not even pay her any respect at all and believe we have set her us as the fourth member of the Trinity when this is so very far from the actual belief we hold.

Behind our altar is an Icon of the Theotokos that one can usually find behind altars in the Orthodox Church.  She is there, arms wide open, with her Son sitting on her lap.  Her arms are lift toward heaven in a prayer posture that many of us do not use, but she is also holding her arms open wide to welcome us to her Son our Savior, the one that she gave birth to so that all of us might find eternal life, not through her, but through her Son that she is holding.  It is for this reason that the Theotokos is never depicted in Icons alone, she points the way and guides us toward her Son, just as John the Baptist does in Icons.  The point the way toward the one who is and always has been and will be.  Jesus the Christ!

As our Patriarch reminds us on this day, we have a moral obligation to pray for peace, for peace and for safety of all those involved.  As Orthodox Christians we pray for those who have been set over us to rule us, that in their calmness we may lead religious and reverent lives.  We need to pray for the safety of those in Syrian and Egypt as well as the entire Middle East, but we also need to pray for the safety of those that are in or will be sent into harm’s way.  The soldiers, sailors, airman, and marines of the military that will be asked to carry out what will be asked of them.  We need to pray for not just our leaders, but all of the world’s leaders, that they find wisdom to think of the repercussions upon the innocent that always are harmed in these situations.

In a letter sent to the President of the United States by Him Eminence Metropolitan Philip of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese, His Eminence says, “Mr. President, we appeal to your humanity, and compassion for people to halt consideration of any U.S military action against the Syrian government.  This would be a deadly and costly action, and nothing can be gained by it.”  We appeal to your humanity!  This is what it has come too that we have to appeal to humanity.

The Bishops of our Church have asked each and every one of us to call our Representatives and ask them, beg them, appeal to their humanity, to not give the go ahead to this war.  Even if you think they have their minds made up and they will not listen, this is a time when the American people need to be heard from.  I have never asked you, from this pulpit, to do something like this, but these are extraordinary times that call for extraordinary measures.  It is time that we stand and be counted on the side of peace and reconciliation and not on the side of war and killing.  “This madness has to stop! It is time that we Christians, and other peace loving people, make our voices heard and draw a ‘red line’ in the sand and say no to the sin of war and destruction and pray for peace!”

I pray that you all will join me in the coming days and pray earnestly for peace.  Peace in the world as well as peace within our own hearts.  We ask for the intercession of our Most Holy, Most Blessed and Glorious Lady the Theotokos that a peaceful solution might be found, and in the event that we do attack, that all those involved remain safe and that innocent citizens in Syria will be protected.

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CALL TO PRAYER FOR PEACE

Posted on by Fr. Peter

On the occasion of the feast of the Birth of the Mother of God (8 September 2013), His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel addresses the hierarchs, priests, monks, nuns and faithful of the Romanian Patriarchate the following appeal to prayer for peace:

APPEAL TO PRAYER FOR PEACE

His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel
His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel

Because peace is more and more threatened at present, we address an appeal to prayer for peace on Sunday, 8 September 2013, at the Feast of the Birth of the Mother of God, the protector of those in distress and need, “the joy and reconciliation of the world”.

In this sense, we urge all the hierarchs, priests, monks, nuns and faithful of the Romanian Patriarchate to increase their prayers for peace.

All people ought to pray and work for peace, according to the urge of Jesus Christ, our Saviour, theKing of Peace, Who says: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God”(Matthew 5:9).

We should use this time of the Feast of the Mother of God to increase the prayer for peace all over the world, especially for peace in Syria, Egypt and other regions of the Middle East, where many Christians are victims of oppression and violence. Let us pray so that peace should be the light of life for all people, irrespective of their religion or culture.

Therefore, at the Divine Liturgy, after reading the Holy Gospel, to the end of the threefold litany, “the prayers for increasing the love and uprooting of hate and all evil” will be read from theLiturgical Book.

† DANIEL
Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church

Petitions:

O Lord our God, look down from on high in Your goodness, upon the hearts of Your servants (N), that are lacking in love and unity, and encompassed with the thorns of hatred and other sins. May the Grace of the All-Holy Spirit, descending upon them, bedew them richly, that they may bring forth good fruit, and out of love for You, may they increase in good deeds and live in love and unity; we earnestly pray, as a Giver of what is good and our God, hear us quickly, and in your love for mankind, have mercy on them.

O Lord our God, grant to Your servants (N) to have unfeigned love for their neighbor; calm them with the grace of Your All-Holy Spirit, and enkindle their souls and hearts with love for You and for one another; we beseech you, as One who is merciful, hear us quickly and have mercy on them.

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