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Getting to the Heart

Posted on by Fr. Peter
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

At the very heart of the Jesus Prayer lies the actual experience of the body as the temple of the Spirit; in other words, the Spirit dwells in our body (see 1 Corinthians 6:19). The concept of the heart that we find in the mysticism of the Jesus Prayer is closely related to the biblical understanding of the heart as the seat and center of various functions of the spirit.

Spiritual masters of nearly all religions often refer to the heart as the seat of wisdom. It is from the heart that wisdom emanates, not from the intellect. Theophan observed, “If the heart is the center of the human person, then it is by the heart that man enters into relation with all that exists.” Later he added, “There is a particular way that leads to harmony among men that is the heart” (The Jesus Prayer in Eastern Spirituality).

Theophan insisted, “You must descend from your head into your heart. At present your thoughts of God are in your head. And God Himself is, as it were, outside you, and so your prayer and other spiritual exercises remain exterior. While you are still in your head, thoughts will … always be whirling about like snow in winter or clouds of mosquitoes in the summer.”

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

From Listening to the Heartbeat of God

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Dying to Self

Posted on by Fr. Peter

My guess would be that, for the vast majority of people, their experience with the Orthodox Church would have to do with encountering the Orthodox at a Liturgical service.  We often say to people who are interested in Orthodox to “come and see” it is in seeing us that you come to know us.  By being in the presence of God in the Temple and letting the sights, sounds, and smells of Orthodox liturgy wash over you that you truly get to know what it means to be Orthodox.

Spirituality needs to be much deeper than just the surface.  I often use the image of the iceberg when I describe the spirituality of the Orthodox Church.  What you see, what you encounter, is just the beginning, the very beginning of our spirituality.  If you choose, you need to descend the depths of the water to see what it is all about.  Orthodoxy is not a religion of the surface, as so many of the world religions are today, but it is deep and abiding faith that will transform from the inside out.

From our very creation, we were intended for a close, personal relationship with God.  The writer of the Book of Genesis uses the image of Adam and Eve, our first parents, walking with God.  They were in the very presence of the creator and had fellowship with Him is a way that we humans can never experience in this life.  The fall of humanity was due to humanities disobedience toward God’s command.  Humanity wanted to do what it wanted to do, and that led to a separation or a severing of that relationship with God.

In the third chapter, of St. John’s Gospel, John the Baptist, speaking to his followers, tells them  “He must increase, but I must decrease.”  On the surface, this can be taken two ways.  One way is that John must personally decrease; he told his followers that he is not the Christ, and so the role of John as the forerunner needs to end so Christ’s role can begin.  Another way is that we, all of us, need to decrease we need to die to self to make room for Christ in our lives.

Listening is the key that opens the door to our transformation.  Earlier this year I wrote a little book called “Listening the Heartbeat of God.”  I used as an inspiration for the title of this book, the image of St. John leaning on the chest of Jesus during the Last Supper.  We see how John reclined against Christ he pressed his ear against the chest of the God Man Christ and could feel the warmth of His body, but he could also hear, and feel, the very heartbeat of God.

“He listened to the very center of creation and the center of life. The ancients believed that the heart was the center of our being—our very essence resided there they thought—so in this sense St. John was listening to the very essence of the Creator of all.” Listening the Heartbeat of God

Imagine what that must have been like for St. John! St. John was listening to the heartbeat of Him who created his own heart.  This is the relationship we are called to have, but in order to obtain this relationship we have to set aside, as we say in the Divine Liturgy, “all the earthly cares of life” we must decrease so He can increase.

The transformation of our life involves becoming a new person, a new creation, one that no longer lives for the worldly pleasures is life, but one that lives for what comes next.  We read in Scripture of the man who was continuously building larger barns to store his stuff.  He would bring down one barn and build a larger one.  He was more concerned with this life and paid little or no attention to the next life.  This is easy to do; we want to ensure that our physical needs are taken care of, but what of our spiritual needs?

Jesus was always concerned with those around Him.  He was concerned for their material as well as their spiritual needs. He always fed those who came out to hear Him speak and He calmed to storm that was raging around His apostles, but after all of this He always took time for prayer.

We see many examples of Jesus going off alone to pray, to recharge His batteries if you will, to center Himself where He needed to be and to have a conversation with God.  That is what prayer is, conversation with God.  Prayer is what transforms us prayer allows us time to be alone, just us and our creator.  Prayer is that time when we put our ear against the chest of the Creator and listen; listen to the very essence of what it means to be a follower of Christ.

Recently someone asked me how I am able to find the strength to do what priests are asked to do.  The answer is straightforward, the only way I can do what I am called to do is with prayer.  I need to spend that time each, and every day sitting in God presence and just listening to Him speak through the prayers of the Church and His Scriptures.  The more time I spend in prayer, the more time I sit and listen, the longer I rest my head and listen to His heartbeat, the more I realize that I need to continue my transformation of my life, and that is what draws me back.  My own desire to continue the conversation is what brings me back into the presence.  My own desire to, walk in the presence of God, is what brings me back to prayer each time.

Dying to self takes a life time, but every journey beings with that first step why not take that first step today.

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Halloween: A Few Spiritual Pointers for Orthodox Parents

Posted on by Fr. Peter

Fr. George Morelli

But whosoever shall cause one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be to his advantage that a millstone turned by an ass were hung upon his neck, and he were drowned in the deep of the sea (Mt. 18:6).

In the United States and many European countries as well, we are coming up to the annual festival of the celebration of “All Hallows’ Evening.” Its roots go back to ancient pagan Celtic tradition Samhain (pronounced: Sah-ween) when villagers would light large outdoor fires and put on costumes to hide from and ward off roaming ghosts of spirits and the dead. The Research Center of the Library of Congress reports:

“It was the biggest and most significant holiday of the Celtic year. The Celts believed that at the time of Samhain, more so than any other time of the year, the ghosts of the dead were able to mingle with the living.i

The Celtic region included the area that is now modern Great Britain, France and Ireland. Also part of the pagan banquet was that animals and crops were placed in the bonfires as a sacrifice to the pagan gods. The conquest of the majority of Celtic lands by the Romans in 43 AD added additional pagan elements to the feast. One was Feralia, a late October festival wherein the Romans memorialized their dead. Second, was a day to sacrifice to the Roman goddess Pomona, the goddess of fruit and trees.

Pomona’s symbol is the apple. To this day, apples are common in modern celebrations of this festival. The name of this festival has also been changed. It is no longer referred to as “All Hallows’ Evening.” All know it by the name ‘Halloween.’

The Divine Instruction regarding paganism

It should be immediately obvious that the members of the Eastern Church that then and now that make up the original Patriarchates in Africa, Eastern Europe, India and the Middle East would know nothing of this festival. Not so for the Church in the West. The Church could not stand by idly. In Old Testament Sacred Scripture we read the instructions God gave to His people through the mouth of Moses:

When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God shall give thee, beware lest thou have a mind to imitate the abominations of those nations. Neither let there be found among you any one that shall expiate his son or daughter, making them to pass through the fire: or that consulteth soothsayers, or observeth dreams and omens, neither let there be any wizard, Nor charmer, nor any one that consulteth pythonic spirits, or fortune tellers, or that seeketh the truth from the dead. For the Lord abhorreth all these things, and for these abominations he will destroy them at thy coming. (Deut 18: 9-12)

One of the fundamental teachings of Christ about salvation is in His words to Thomas during the priestly discourse at the Last Supper: “Jesus saith to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one cometh to the Father, except by Me.” (Jn. 14:6) The Apostles themselves would go on to adapt Christ’s teaching to the cultures and traditions they encountered as they evangelized in different parts of the world. St. Paul, for example would tell the pagan Athenians that the “unknown God” they worshiped was the God of the Christians. St Luke tells us St. Paul’s words:

“Men, Athenians, I perceive how in all things ye are most religious. “For passing through and carefully observing the objects of your veneration, I also found an altar on which it had been written: ‘To an unknown God.’ Therefore since ye know not Whom ye reverence, I proclaim this One to you. “The God Who made the world and all things in it, this same One, being Lord of heaven and of earth, dwelleth not in temples made by hand; “neither is He being serviced to by the hands of men, as though in need of anything, because He Himself giveth to all life, and breath, in all respects” (Acts 17:22-25).

In emulation of the missionary ethos of St. Paul and the Apostles, a transition from the pagan festival of Samhain to a Christian feast started in 609 AD. Boniface IV, Patriarch of the West and Pope of Rome who inaugurated a Feast called All Martyrs Day. Pope Gregory III (731-741) added all saints of the Church to the martyrs and fixed the date to 01 Nov.

Origins of the English word Halloween

The name of this feast in Middle English was Alholowmesse. Imbedded in this word is the modern word ‘hallow,’ which means holy. Thus, the meaning of the Feast is its name: the Feast of all the holy ones – all the saints. The evening before the Feast would be ‘all-hollows eve’ which in modern English becomes Halloween. The tie to the saints or souls that have fallenl asleep in the Lord, became further strengthened by the day after All-Saints Day, which in the West came to be called All-Souls’ day.

The Diaspora of the Eastern Church

In the 19th Century, immigration of Eastern Christians from the traditional areas they had long occupied into the geographic areas of the Western Church, intensified. Obviously, they did not find the Celtic pagan practices that had confronted the Church in the 7th Century, but they did find the residue of pagan practices as they have been transformed over time —-such as the modern Halloween Festival. So the question for Orthodox Christians is: how should they respond to the Halloween as it exists today?

Halloween Today

The Library of Congress Research Center [see Endnote i] beautifully summarizes current practice:

Virtually all present Halloween traditions can be traced to the ancient Celtic day of the dead. Halloween is a holiday of many mysterious customs, but each one has a history, or at least a story behind it. The wearing of costumes, for instance, and roaming from door to door demanding treats can be traced to the Celtic period and the first few centuries of the Christian era, when it was thought that the souls of the dead were out and around, along with fairies, witches, and demons. Offerings of food and drink were left out to placate them. As the centuries wore on, people began dressing like these dreadful creatures, performing antics in exchange for food and drink. This practice is called mumming, from which the practice of trick-or-treating evolved. To this day, witches, ghosts, and skeleton figures of the dead are among the favorite disguises. Halloween also retains some features that harken back to the original harvest holiday of Samhain, such as the customs of bobbing for apples and carving vegetables, as well as the fruits, nuts, and spices cider associated with the day.

Today Halloween is becoming once again and adult holiday or masquerade, like Mardi Gras. Men and women in every disguise imaginable are taking to the streets of big American cities and parading past grinningly carved, candlelit jack o’lanterns, re- enacting customs with a lengthy pedigree. Their masked antics challenge, mock, tease, and appease the dread forces of the night, of the soul, and of the otherworld that becomes our world on this night of reversible possibilities, inverted roles, and transcendency. In so doing, they are reaffirming death and its place as a part of life in an exhilarating celebration of a holy and magic evening.

How should Eastern Christians respond to modern Halloween?

The beautiful words of the commemoration of the Theotokos at the end of most of the Ektenias (Litanies) of the Church should be the ethos of our response: “… let us commend ourselves and each other, and all our life unto Christ our God.” We can take a step toward the healing of society, our families and our children by taking what is at the core of our Orthodox Faith to transform Halloween from evil and superstition to the care of Our Ever-present God who opens us to His sanctification.

To accomplish this means removing anything ungodly from the celebration. This means unhealthy focusing and emphasis on cemeteries, devils, ghouls (a grave robber, an evil spirit or ghost), goblins, (a grotesque supernatural creature that makes trouble for living people), skeletons and alternative sexual lifestyles. If any Halloween practice contains as its spirit, as the Library report above states, “antics [that] challenge, mock, tease, and appease the dread forces of the night, of the soul. . . .” then they can clearly be seen as un-Godly. Some practices not only are an affront to God but dishonor our bodies that we are to care for and the love we must have for others. For example, wearing a costume that is pornographic, that is to say arouses lust and sexual desire, surely is disrespect to ourselves and those around us.

 Psychological Caveats

Let me suggest a few guiding principles. Do not outright dismiss Halloween as many children become oppositional when given a stern, uncompromising, not understood, dictatorial: “No.” Ask the children what they think Halloween means. Parents may then engage their children in conversation to suggest how they want to celebrate the festival. Children could be prompted to describe what they think are the true values of God: God is love and Goodness. Then, they could be asked what they think are the values of the evil one and his spirits.

The conversation with the child can move on to the question: “Can you love God and be on His side and with celebrating the evil spirits at the same time. Whose side do you want to be on?” If a family loved one has fallen asleep in the Lord, would they want to think of them as a ghoul, spirit in league with the evil one as depicted in Halloween costumes, or to be in God’s bosom. As the Christians of the first millennium transformed the pagan festivals to Christ-centered celebrations, parents can transform pagan Halloween into Christ-like joyous Halloween.

Keep Christ in Halloween

Any Halloween practice by Eastern (or any Christians), then, should contain Christ. A few suggestions are: Harvest Festival thanking God for the fruits of the Harvest (instead of appeasing evil forces). Offer age-appropriate “treats” to neighbors when Trick or Treating: offers to rake leaves, or pick up fly-away trash.

  • Icons or other Symbols placed on Pumpkins
  • Carving a Christian symbol on Pumpkins, especially the Cross.
  • Animal Cookies—-(Referencing the Creation narrative and the story of Noah in the Old Testament Book of Genesis, instead of sacrificing to the evil one)
  • Have a parish Halloween party or play. Especially featuring martyr saints and the holy monks who struggled against demonic aggravation. Both conquered by their adherence to Christ.
  • Psalm or Proverb Quotes Cards for Trick or Treaters
  • Sacred Scripture, patron saint or morally neutral costumes
  • Finally, let us meditate on Christ, who is the center of all things.

Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For in Him were all things created, the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or authorities. All things through Him and to Him have been created. And He is before all things, and in Him all things have come into existence. (Col. 1:15-17)

ENDNOTES

i http://www.loc.gov/folklife/halloween.html

V. Rev. Fr. George Morelli Ph.D. is a licensed Clinical Psychologist and Marriage and Family Therapist. 

He is the Coordinator of the Chaplaincy and Pastoral Counseling Ministry of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese and Religion Coordinator (and Antiochian Archdiocesan Liaison) of the Orthodox Christian Association of Medicine, Psychology and Religion. 

Fr. Morelli is also Assistant Pastor of St. George’s Antiochian Orthodox Church, San Diego, California.

Source: Orthodoxy Today

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Extremist Language is not Christian

Posted on by Fr. Peter

Statement of the Holy Eparchial Synod
of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America

The Holy Eparchial Synod of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America in its Fall 2012 session expresses once again its deep concern over extremist language used in all spheres of public and private life. We exhort all the people with the admonition of the Holy Apostle Paul: Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one (Colossians 4:6). We deplore the use of any racist, xenophobic, fascistic, hateful speech, imagery and behavior.   Noting that the one of the great gifts of living in a democracy is the right to free speech, we nevertheless commend responsibility, civility, and indeed love in choosing our words and modes of expression. The people of Greece said “NO” to fascism in World War II and consequently suffered tremendously under the Nazi occupation. We call upon all people to say “NO” to the hatefulness of all forms of totalitarianism and embrace the true philanthropy and philoxenia (love of the stranger) that is the message of the Gospel. As a leader in Interfaith and Inter-Cultural Dialogue, the Greek Orthodox Church, by the grace of God, prays and works for peace, respect, and reconciliation among all people.

Source

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Sermon ~ Not my Gospel, but God’s

Posted on by Fr. Peter

The Reading is from St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians 1:11-19

BRETHREN, I would have you know that the gospel which was preached by me is not man’s gospel. For I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it; and I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia; and again I returned to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother.

Brethren, I would have you know that the gospel which was preached by me is not man’s gospel. For I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

It is with these words that Paul begins to tell his story to the Gentiles in his letter that he has written to them.  The entire message of this letter that Paul has written is to inform them of the false Gospel, and those who would proclaim it, that is around.  Paul clearly states what the Orthodox Church teaches, the words that I speak, the theology that I teach, are not my personal ideas these are the ideas of the Church.

These past few weeks, in our weekly study on Monday night’s, we have been spending time studying the 7 Ecumenical Councils of the Church.  These councils were held many years ago called specifically to reject certain heresies that had sprouted up in the Church.  There were those who denied the Divinity of Christ, those who thought the Holy Theotokos was just another woman, and those who thought the Holy Icons were idols.  All of these doctrines were discussed and agreed upon at these councils.  The very Creed that we will recite at this Liturgy today is a product of those councils and we Orthodox pride ourselves when we say that our theology has not changed since those days.  We can say that because we do not have the authority to change what the Church teaches.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is taught by His true apostles, many will and have declared that they are his apostles from the time of Saint Paul right down to today so how are we to know who is the right and who is the false apostle of Jesus Christ?

According to Saint Paul, true Apostles are called by God.  They learn the Gospel by revelation, either directly from the Risen Son of God as did the first Apostles and Saint Paul or they learn it by the Apostolic Tradition as found in the Church.  God speaks to us through the Church, her history, her liturgy, her traditions, this is how we come to know and understand the great mystery of the Church.  When we study Scripture or the doctrines of the Church we look back, back through the lens of Holy Tradition, to see what the Church has said and continues to speak about this.  The Church needs to stay current, but we keep current by looking at the past.  We need to know where we have come from in order to know where we are going.

When I or any Orthodox priest or bishop, stands here and preaches the Gospel, these are not our own ideas that we have come up with.  Sure the way we present the message and the style might be ours, but the message is the same message that has been preached since the days of the Apostles, since the days of the writing of the creed by the Fathers of the councils, this has been our message.  Our message does not change with every opinion poll, we do not decide that what the church has celebrated or condemned for thousands of years is now okay because the majority of people say it is, no, we hold fast to what the Church has always taught that is what it means to be Orthodox.

St. Paul continues and says that true apostles are called by grace, not according to any works or the “proper” background, a true apostle brings glory to God and not himself.  St. Paul was the great persecutor of the Church.  Early on the Book of Acts we read that he was present at the Stoning of the Great Protomartyr Stephen.  He was relentless in his persecution of the Church.  He tell the Galatians in the passage today that when it pleased God, he was called by grace to preach the Gospel.

For many years in my own life, I dodged the call.  I guess I can say that I had my first conscious thought of becoming a priest when I was in the third grade.  I was an altar boy and very involved in my church, so it was natural, they say, for a young boy to think this way.  The call stayed with me all those years until I finally gave in and went to seminary and was ordained.  As St. Paul tells us we are called before we are even born, and in God’s time, He will make you ready.  None of us a worthy to stand here and do what we do, but we are made worthy by God’s grace.  There is nothing I can do to earn this, I am a sinner like everyone else, but through the grace of God, it is made possible.

St. Paul continues that true Apostles form one Church and govern it with one mind and heart, they hold the same doctrine and work by consensus working in council.  This we see time and time again in the Church.  Again, in the Book of Acts we read of the first Council that was held in Jerusalem, at the behest of St. Paul, to answer a question about how the Gentiles were to be treated.  We have many councils throughout the history of the Church called to answer questions and provide guidance.  The Bishops and others come together to discuss and come to consensus about issues.  This is done, we hope, in a spirit of charity and love, and we believe that it is accomplished by the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  One needs to remember that these are not the doctrines of man, but the teaching of the Church handed down to the Apostles and fathers and mothers of the Church, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  Again, we do not make it up as we go along, God forbid, but we hope and pray for the Holy Spirit to guide us.  This is why we pray O Heavenly King, O comforter, O Spirit of Truth, before any meeting that we have in the Church.  We are asking that the Holy Spirit come and abide in us and guide us as we discuss Church matters.

True apostles, St. Paul says, stand firm in matters of conscience and are correctable when mistaken.  We are to hold fast in what we believe; we are to be the rock the firm foundation of what the Church has taught since the beginning of the Church.  Many of the “so called” Christian Churches today have very little in common with the beliefs of the Apostles, and this is what St. Paul is warning us about today.  There are many false prophets out there preaching man’s Gospel and not God’s Gospel that we need to be ever vigilant.

True apostles submit to the authority of the Church and do not go off on their own doing their own thing.  When Jesus encounters the Roman Soldier who asks him to heal his daughter, the soldier tells Jesus that we are all under authority, and that is true in the Church as well, the Church is under the authority of the Church, not the local church as we see it manifested here, but the universal Church.  We belong to something much larger than us, and when we speak we speak for the Church.  We need to stand unified as the Church as that beacon of hope in a world gone wild.

Our Church is grounded in the Apostolic Tradition; it has come down to us directly from Jesus Christ through His Apostles.  By tradition, I am speaking of theology and practice, not an ethnic identity but an identity as Orthodox.  We are inheritors of that tradition as we sit here today, and we need to defend that tradition against those who want to destroy it.

Each week, here at the Divine Liturgy, we recite the Creed.  We begin with the words, “I believe” this is a personal statement of belief and we have to mean it.  Many have died to protect the words that follow, and we have to be willing to do the same.

In a few moments, we will read those words again.  As we recite them together think about the words, about what it is that we say we believe in, commit today to truly believe those words and taken them in your heart.

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Mending Fences

Posted on by Fr. Peter

Many times in Scripture, Jesus uses images of a pastoral nature.  He is called the good shepherd, he asks Peter to feed his lambs, and we have the parable of the sower of the seed.  There are many parallels to the pastoral life of the church and her ministers.

About a year ago I purchased six chickens and rooster.  I was a little nervous when they arrived, and I am not sure I slept much that first week I had them.  Every day, as soon as it was light, I ran out to the coop to check on them and make sure they were okay.  These little creatures depended on me for everything, food, water, and safety.   About a month ago I lost two of them.  One just disappeared in some sort of chicken rapture thing, and the other one was killed by a predator.  I have tried not to get emotional about them as they are functionary and not pets, but it did hurt a little.  After all, I am the one who has been given care of them, and I neglected to keep them safe.

I spent the next week mending the fence in the parts where it looked like critters could get in.  The problem here is the land as a lot of rocks so trying to bury the fence is not always easy or possible.  So I wrapped the fence in some wood and nailed it to the ground with six inch spikes.  This worked well except for the part of the fence that I did not do this too.

The chicken coop backs up to the garden fence, so I did not think I needed to secure that part of the fence, well I was wrong.  All week I have been tracking some critter that has been finding the weak spots in the fence and digging under it.  It seemed not matter what I did to secure it that little critter would tunnel under it.  Today I bought a new digging tool and worked to bury the fence as best I could.  I also put more fence between the garden bed and the coop fence to block the digging.  Let’s see how that works.

While I was working I was thinking about my life as a priest.  On the day of my ordination I was given the consecrated bread, now the body of Christ, to hold with the words similar to receive this and protect it until I return for it.  It is symbolic of the trust that the Church, and the bishop, were placing in me to care for and protect the flock, the parishioners that I was soon to lead.  Priesthood is more than a job, it is more than a nine to five , and we are never, ever, off duty.  We are held to a much higher standard than most people, and, at times, it is difficult to live up to that responsibility.  We are shepherds, with everything that means, of the people we have been given, and we will have to answer for every sheep that we lose.

Our mission is to build a fence, the faith, around God’s family and protect them.  No matter how safe we think we have made the fence the evil one seeks out the weak spots and digs under and invades our lives.  We have to be ever vigilant to protect those we have been given responsibility for.  We have to monitor that fence constantly and fix the holes, and we have to be willing to lay down our lives for those we lead.  If you are not willing to do that then I suggest you call your bishop and resign!  This is too important, and we need people who are going to be serious about it!

So there I was, mending the fence around the chicken coop working to keep my girls safe, and I thought about all the fences we have to mend as priests.  We mend fences between family members in some cases between family members who have not spoken to each other in years.  We mend fences between friends who for whatever reason had a falling out.  And, we mend the fence between people and God.  We do all of this to keep the evil one out and those on the inside safe.

Being a priest, or for that matter a bishop, is to stop living for yourself and truly live for others.  We have to put others needs in front of ours and that is a sacrifice, but it is a sacrifice that we do because we love those we have been given responsibility for.

Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him.  When Peter said yes Jesus told him to feed his lambs, to care for the people of God, to care for them and to love them, and when the time comes, to lay down your life for them.

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Metropolitan Hilarion’s greeting to the Synod of Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church

Posted on by Fr. Peter

Your Holiness,

Your Eminences and Excellencies:

May I address you on behalf of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church with apostolic greeting: ‘Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ’ (2 Thess 1:2).

The present Synod of Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church is timed to the remarkable date – the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Second Vatican Council and is dedicated to a theme relevant to all Christians – bringing the message of Christ to the secular world. Half a century ago the fathers of the Council were convinced that closer cooperation amongst Christians of different traditions would make witness to Christ more convincing.

The Second Vatican Council made a substantial contribution to the development of inter-Christian dialogue and indeed laid the foundation of official relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches. Our presence at the Synod of Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church bears witness to it. Today we are called to think about solving our common tasks that the present epoch puts forward.

The unrestrained pursuit of pleasure and the lust for irresponsible enrichment at the expense of the poor sections of the population were characteristic of the developed societies of Europe and America in recent decades. Individualism and egoism have brought about crisis not only in human and social relations, but also in politics and economics. The crisis which the Western society is undergoing has primarily spiritual roots. Secular society without God naively believes that while exploiting only their own proprietary and consumer instincts it would be able to successfully regulate the growth of well-being, thus achieving prosperity and justice. However, the tragic experience of the entire 20th century has vividly shown that the renunciation of God and His commandments does not lead people to happiness, but, on the contrary, brings about numerous disasters and sufferings. The present crisis, which has affected many countries of the world, shows that the secular society has chosen an erroneous way of development.

Both the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church fulfill the mission to which they have been called by Christ and tirelessly bring witness of the truth, while ‘proving the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment’ (Jn 16:8). In this ministry our Churches become even more conscious of the necessity of combining our efforts so that the Christian answer to the challenges of the modern society can be heard. In recent years, the Orthodox and Catholic Churches have fruitfully cooperated within the Orthodox-Catholic forum, in different international organizations and at other places of dialogue with the secular world. Yet, I believe, we could and should do much more to respond together to new challenges and threats.

I would like to use this opportunity to call my brothers in the Catholic Church to create a common front in order to defend Christianity in all those countries where it is being marginalized or persecuted. In Europe and America we witness growing pressure from those representatives of militant secularism and atheism who attempt to expel Christianity from the public square, to ban Christian symbols, to destroy traditional Christian understanding of the family, of marriage as a union between a man and a woman, of the value of human life from inception till natural death.

In some other parts of the globe the very existence of Christian Churches is under threat. In the countries where the so-called ‘Arab spring’ is underway millions of Christians suffer from severe persecution. Many have fled from the places where they had lived for centuries. In Iraq, where 1,5 million Christians lived just a few years ago, only 150 thousand remain, while all the others were either exterminated or expelled. Grave persecutions of Christians are going on in Egypt, Lybia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, India, Indonesia and many other countries, both in the Middle East and elsewhere.

We are deeply concerned about the humanitarian catastrophe which is unfolding in Syria, where militant Islamists are seeking political power with the help of some Western countries. Wherever they come to power, Christians are being persecuted or exterminated. Christian communities in Syria and other countries of the Middle East are crying for help, while the mass media in the West largerly ignore their cries and the politicians prefer to close their eyes on this unprecedented wave of persecution.

We, Orthodox and Catholics from all over the world, should raise our voice in defense of Christian population and Christian heritage of the Middle East. We must constantly bring the attention of political leaders, of international organizations and of the mass media to this unfolding human tragedy.

Only if we join our forces shall we be able to protect our Christian faith, to overcome present crisis and to give new impetus to our common mission of the new evangelization, ‘so that the world may believe’ (Jn 17:21).

I wish you peace, God’s blessing and success in your work!

Source: Department for External Church Relations 

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Consecration to the Theotokos

Posted on by Fr. Peter

For centuries people have been placing themselves under the protection of the Holy Theotokos.  This can be done for many reasons, in times of need or great distress.  Often times priests will place their ministry under the protection of the Theotokos.  Many of the prayers of the Church ask for the intercession of the Holy Theotokos.  At the end of the Vespers service we pray, “Most Holy Theotokos Save Us!”

Pope John Paul II had a great devotion to the Theotokos and dedicated his life to her the night of his election in 1978.  Standing on the balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square he addressed the assembled crowd:

I was afraid in receiving this nomination, but I did it in the spirit of obedience to Our Lord and with total trust in his Mother, the Most Holy Madonna.

I have decided that at this point in my ministry, I am again placing myself and the ministry that God has given me.  God has placed me here in this vineyard and care for it and I dedicate and consecrate my life and the ministry I perform to the Holy Theotokos.

Put me not into the hands
Of any human protection,
O our Lady, most holy,
But do now receive the prayers of your supplicant;
Sorrow has taken me,
And I am unable
To withstand and bear the demon’s darts;
Shelter I do not have,
Nor a place to go, worthless that I am;
Lady of humanity,
The shelter of the faithful and their hope,
Do not reject my prayers to you,
Do the things that profit me.
From the Paraklesis Service

 

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Sermon ~ Standing at the Cross Roads

Posted on by Fr. Peter

The Gospel of Luke 8:5-15

The Lord said this parable: “A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell along the path, and was trodden under foot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns grew with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew, and yielded a hundredfold.” And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but for others they are in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, that they may not believe and be saved. And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy; but these have no root, they believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. And as for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bring forth fruit with patience.” As he said these things, he cried out “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

We are standing at a cross roads.  Here in America our lives have changed in several generations some would say for the good while others would say for the bad.  We stand at a cross roads here in our own little church.  Look around, lots of empty seats but we are not about the numbers.  Our goal should not be just to fill the seats in the Church, but our goal should be to fill the seats in the Church with quality, yes that’s right, quality rather than quantity.

Today we hear the parable of the sower.  This passage has taken on more meaning for me since I started to garden, it makes more sense if you will.  I always try to remember that Scripture was written at a particular time in history to a particular people in history.  The images and stories used are ones that the hearers would understand, and for us, we have to try and find their deeper meaning.  It is not always easy, but thankfully this is not the case today.

Jesus tells the story of a sower who is sowing his seed.  I imagine from this story the sower is scattering the seed rather than planting one seed at a time.  He places the seed into several categories.  The seed that falls on the ground, the seed that falls in the thicket or the thorns and the seed that fell in the good ground.  Now the farmer had to know that this was going to happen, and it is factored into his overall plan for the farm.  I am going to lose “X” amount of seed that will not grow.

There are a few other reasons that the seed will not grow, one would be the quality of the seed.  If we are not using the best we have then sure it might grow, but if we use a better seed we will get better results.  The other part of the equation is the soil.  If the soil is not properly cultivated then you can have the best seed in the world, but it just will not grow.

I was speaking with a painter one day.  I asked him what the most critical part of his job was, what did he spend the most time on for each job.  He told me that the preparation was the most crucial part of the job.  Sure the paint or the brand was important, but if the surface was not prepared well enough the best paint in the world would just not look right.  The same is true in our spiritual life.

This past week, The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released a study of religious trends in America.  This research is conducted each year and is designed, for those of us in Church work, to see where we are going as a society.  The findings were what I expected, but it was still a very sobering read.  For the first time in American history the “nones” as they are called, has become the majority religion in America.  More people are unaffiliated with any religion today than ever in our history.  A third of adults over 30 have no religious affiliation at all.  One third!  This trend is called Generational Replacement.  The older generations are holding fast, but they are not being replaced by the younger generation.  But I think the most striking response from the survey is that fifty percent of those who consider themselves religiously affiliated seldom or never go to Church.

There is a decrease across the board in church affiliation, but the good news is that, for us Orthodox, less than 1% of the population, our numbers remained stable.  That is good news and bad news.  We grew at the same rate as we declined.  Mainline Protestants saw a 5% decrease while Roman Catholics saw a 1% decrease.

So what does all of this mean?  We need to spend some time with this study as it points out several key factors of why people are losing faith if you will.  Most of it seems related to the way our society sees themselves and what they are entitled too.  They see themselves as free spirits who do not want to be told what to do, however, the Churches that have remained consistent with their beliefs are the ones that, although declining, are declining at a much slower rate than those whose beliefs change with the wind.  There is a desire amongst the “nones” for more social involvement, not in the political realm, but in the area where there is direct assistance to people.  Like our community meal and other programs that actually help real people.  Although the “nones” are more political, they do not want their church directly involved in partisan politics.  67% said that the Church was too involved in politics while 77% said that the Church needed to focus more on helping people in their communities.

Of course, statistics do not tell the whole story, but it does indicate the direction of where we are headed as Church as well as society.

St. Theophan the Recluse is one of the greatest saints in all of Orthodoxy.  His writings have been studied for years on the topics of spirituality and how to live the moral life.  The other day I came across a quote of his, “Christianity must remain eternally unchanging, in no way being dependent on or guided by the spirit of each age. Instead, Christianity is meant to govern and direct the spirit of the age for anyone who obeys its teachings.”

What we have seen is that the message of the Church has changed to fit society, the Church no longer influences society but society is influencing the church.  When we stop preaching Jesus and start preaching something else, the wheels come off the wagon.

So what about the seeds and the soil?

Orthodoxy has the best seeds that have ever been created.  Our seeds have not been changed by outside influence, and by seeds, I mean our theology.  The seeds we use today are the same ones that have been used for the last 2,000 years.  The real work needs to happen with the soil, with those who will hear the word of God.  How will they come and see if we do not go and tell?  The seed will not grow if we do not plant it.  The farmer can buy the seed, put it in his barn, and just hope it grows, but he will have a much better crop if he at least tries to sow some of that seed in the right place.

What is our soil like?  Do we take in the word of God and let it take root and grow within us and let it change us or do we chock it off and not let it work because we know better than God?  Does the word of God, and what our Church believes, transform your life?  Or does it fall on the stones of our hardened heart and with and die?

Our hearts will only be prepared to receive the seeds that God is trying to plant in us if we do the work that is required.  We need to do the work to transform our hearts of stone to hearts of soil that is ready to be planted.  We are standing at the cross roads which way are we going to go?

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The Heart of the Family Church…

Posted on by Fr. Peter
The Icon Corner is the Heart of the Family Church

Every Sunday, feastday and other holy day, when we go into our parish temple, we see the heart of the parish which is the sanctuary, where the Holy Table is. When we go into an Orthodox home, we hope to see the heart of the family, which is the icon corner.

Just like the sanctuary is the heart of the parish church, the icon corner is the heart of the family church. In the parish church, the parish family prays together before the sanctuary and the iconostas; in the family church, the family prays together before the icon corner.

What is an icon corner? An icon corner is a shelf or table or cabinet, where icons are placed and where a lamp is kept burning. Many people have icons of Jesus Christ, the Theotokos and icons of the patron saints of the family members. There are many ways to set up the icons and the important thing is just to do it. The icon corner doesn’t have to be a corner, it can be a wall or other place in the house where the family can go to pray. It is best if the icon corner faces the east, to remind us of the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Besides the icons and the lamp, it is traditional for pious Orthodox people to keep a Bible and prayer book, holy water, and blessed bread from church. Many people also have holy oil, the palms or willows from Palm Sunday, and other holy things from the services of the church year. The icon corner can be very simple or very fancy but the main thing is that the icon corner is not just a decoration for the house but that it is the heart of the family and that the family uses it. In many pious Orthodox homes, the icon corner is arranged so that it can actually be used for celebrating the Divine Liturgy, if the priest needs to do this. This reminds us of the history of our Orthodox Faith and that we must always be ready for times when the churches suffer from those who are not believers.

If you do not have an icon corner, ask your priest to help you start one in your home. Members of the family can use it at any time. If you are not able to read the prayers from the prayer book because there is not enough time, then, at least go to the icon corner and ask for God’s blessing before beginning whatever it is that you are doing.

Try to begin each day by going to the icon corner and reading the prayers from the prayer book for the morning, take some, holy bread and holy water. In this way, you are getting God’s blessing for the new day. If you cannot read the prayers for some reason, still go to the icon corner, make the sign of the cross and take the holy bread and holy water, still asking God to bless the new day.

You will see that the icon corner makes a big difference in your home. When you see the lamp burning, you will remember that God is always near and that the saints are always praying for your family. When you use the icon corner every day, you will see that God is kept close to your heart and mind and this will help you to be closer to Him and His Orthodox Faith.

-From Father John’s Sunday Bulletin

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