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Theotokos our Mother and our Model

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Theotokos of Great Grace

As an Orthodox Christian, I have a deep devotion to the Mother of God.  The Theotokos takes a prominent place in our Churches and also in our spiritual life.  However, she is not more important than her Son.  In Orthodox Iconography, the Theotokos is never depicted by herself.  She is always depicted with her Son, and she is always pointing towards Him as he is the way, the only way, for our salvation.  Because of her sincere answer to the Angel Gabriel she not only became our Mother but our model of how to live this Christian life.

In the opening verses of the Gospel of St. Luke we are introduced to a young girl whose life was about to change.  Visited by the Angel Gabriel Mary was asked to give birth to an extraordinarily unique child.  Still a child herself, by modern standards, Mary said yes and became the Theotokos, the Birth-giver of God.

There is much we can learn from the Holy Theotokos if we just reflect on her life.  She asks a sincere question when the Angel comes to visit her, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”  The Angel answers her with the words, “the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you…”  To that Mary responds, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord!  Let it be to me according to your word.”  This unassuming young woman said yes, and that yes would change the world.

Mary’s response, from a position of faith, is the highest obedience to God.  The Incarnation of Jesus was made possible by the free response of all of humanity in the person of Mary.  The first woman, Eve, disobeyed God and now Mary obeys His will in her life.  As Eve closed herself off from the love of God, Mary opens herself by her faithful response and we need to do the same.

The third Ecumenical Council held in Ephesus in 431 affirmed the title of Theotokos.  The Patriarch of Constantinople, Nestorius, advocated the term Christotokos, or Birth-giver of Christ as he believed that Mary only gave birth to the humanity of Christ and not His divinity.  St. Cyril of Alexandria opposed this view because to him, and others, it was unacceptable to separate the two natures of Christ.  The council affirmed the title of Theotokos and the theory of Nestorius was proclaimed a heresy.

The simple answer of Mary to the Angel is the natural answer that we need to make to God each and every day.  We need to say, as she did, “let it be done to me according to your word.”  We need to walk in the light of God, and we can only do that if we are submitting to and being obedient to His will for us.

Her yes was a leap of faith for she had no idea what was to come next or even her family would believe her.  She answered yes, with a sincere faith and trust that she knew that God would take care of her.

It is the same with us.  We need to answer yes to God with a simple faith, the faith of a child, that trusts God enough, and we put our whole life in His service and walk in His will.  This is not easy to do, and we have the Theotokos as a model.  With an enormous amount of faith and trust, she said yes.

The Theotokos brought the Son of God into the world in a real concrete way we in turn need to bring Christ to the world by the way we live.  I have mentioned before that being Orthodox is not easy, and it is not just another denomination or a belief.  Orthodoxy needs to be our life and it needs to form and transform that life just as the yes of the Theotokos formed and transformed her life.

At the Crucifixion Jesus gave care of his mother to the Apostle that he loved, St. John.  Scripture tells us that St. John took her into his home and cared for her for the rest of her life.  Tradition tells us she was with the Apostles and others on the Day of Pentecost and was an inspiration to them in their ministry.  The Church commemorates her death on August 15th a one of the major feast days of the Church, and all of the Apostles were present, with the exception of St. Thomas at her repose.

The Theotokos is an example to us of a sincere and genuine belief, a faith that gave her the ability to say yes when asked to do an extraordinary thing.  She can be our guide on our spiritual journey if we seek her guidance.  Take time to mediate on her life and on her yes.

The Magnificat

My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.

For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; for behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.

For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name.

And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.

He has shown strength with His arm; he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.

He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy, as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever.

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Acts of God

Posted on by Fr. Peter

Over the weekend it was announced that the extremely large Ponderosa fire, presently burning in California, was coming very close to the Monastery of St. John of San Francisco in Manton.  Along with that news came the revelation of some shenanigans going on at that same monastery in an incendiary email posted by my friend George at his website.  After reading all of the comments, 54 at the time of this writing, I left the following comment (presently awaiting moderation):

I maybe way off base here but all of this “God caused the fire” stuff sounds a lot like Pat Robertson’s assertion that God caused the Hurricane that hit New Orleans years ago. I’m sorry but my Orthodox theology does not teach any of this. Yes God is calling his children to repentance, He has been doing that since Christ was Crucified. Jesus paid the ultimate price for all of us and it shows us just how much God loves each and every one of us.

If you follow that logic through, and someone has pointed this out already, and the monastery is spared then you have no other conclusion then to say that God approves of everything going on there because he spared the monastery. Sometimes things just happen! Is it random, yes. Is God calling us to repentance, yes. All we can do is monitor our own sins and take care of that. Get your life right with God.

If these allegations are true then they need to be brought to light and I thank the man who had the courage to write the email and I thank George or publishing it. These are the types of things that the faithful need to know about.

This is also an example of why we need a faithful hierarchy and true and authentic monasticism! But we cannot have either if we do not have true and faithful parishes. The Church begins and ends with the local parish. If the local parish is not healthy the Church will not be healthy. If the priest is preaching heresy then the Church will be filled with heretics. We need to get back to the basics of our Orthodox faith. We need to call everyone to true repentance. When is the last time your priest preached about confession? How many priests hold regular confession times or is it by appointment! PLEASE!

Confession is a fundamental aspect of our spiritual life, meeting with a spiritual father on a regular basis is a fundamental aspect of our spiritual life, not festivals and dancing ad language classes, that is all nonsense! We are where we are because we have allowed it to get there. We allow bishops to send to the old country for priests, why because we do not promote vocations in our Churches. We do not pay our priests a living wage and so they are forced to take on other occupations just to survive, and we treat them like crap!

We all, and I include myself in this as well, need to take a long hard look at ourselves and our interior life. When was the last time we have been to confession, really gone to confession and not some quicky before Liturgy on Sunday morning? I will confess it has been a little more time than I like and that is my issue. But we need to call all of us back to repentance and reconciliation. We need to pray for our Bishops, priests, deacons, monks, and nuns everyday! We need to pray for each other! We need to ask for the intercession of St. John of Shanghai for the American Church. We need to stop all of this jurisdictional nonsense and get to what the Church is really about, loving God and loving our neighbor that is what is important. We involve ourselves in way too many earthly cares and we should, like we pray at the Liturgy, lay aside all the earthly cares of life.

Sorry to ramble and vent but this has disturbed me. We are trying to found an authentic monastic work here in New England and we struggle each day to try and make this happen. Each time another thing like this comes to light it damages the Church and monasticism. Please pray for me and for our work here in New England. Hey, we are looking for a few good men! 😉

God bless all of you, and may St. John of Shanghai pray for us!

A funny thought I had, that I did not add to this comment, is that God’s aim would be better I would think.  If he wanted to get our attention I think He would have struck the monastery and contained there fire there, why get others involved?

My point is this, why do we think that God only speaks to us in a natural disaster?  Yes, God is calling all of His people to repentance and reconciliation that is the message of the Gospel, but God loves us, He sent His son to prove how much He loves us, and He is not bent on destroying us.

Why is it that we cannot see God speaking through say a sunrise or a sunset for that matter, or through the words of a stranger who says something nice to you just when you need it?  Why can we not see God speaking to us through the Divine Liturgy when we offer the sacrifice for all of us, and why can we not see, and hear, God speaking to us in His Holy Scriptures?  And the ultimate, for me anyway, we can we not see God speaking to us in the smile of a child?

God is constantly speaking to us we just need to listen?

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The New Soviet League of Militant Godless

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Christ the Savior Cathedral, Moscow

Editor: This article should put into perspective why the Orthodox Christian in Russia reacted the way they did to this incident.  We have to remember the past or we will be doomed to repeat it!

By Philip Jenkins

August 20, 2012

It sounds like a scriptwriter’s dream.

Here we have Russia, a vastly powerful country with a floundering democracy, facing the imminent threat of tyranny. That danger is personified by Vladimir Putin, a former KGB man who looks like, well, a former KGB man, as imagined by John Le Carré. Standing in his way is a gallant resistance movement symbolized by an all-female rock band, a group of punky young performance artists called Pussy Riot.

After playing for democracy in a daring public venue, they face a show trial that could send them to prison for years. Around the world, politicians and celebrities speak out, supporters organize solidarity demonstrations. The film is a natural: can we get Aubrey Plaza as the band’s leader? Will Madonna do a cameo? This is too good to be true!

And indeed it is. Putin may be a thug, and Pussy Riot might be feminist warriors for human rights, but the particular act for which they faced trial is much more controversial than is commonly reported in the West.

A good case can be made that it was a grievous act of religious hate crime, of a kind that would be roundly condemned if it happened in a country that the West happened to like. (I’m also wondering why liberals are suddenly so fond of a band that claims inspiration from the “Oi!” music invented by Far-Right British skinheads).

Last March, three members of Pussy Riot staged an unauthorized “concert” in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Standing before the altar, they sang a pseudo-hymn to the Virgin, urging her to remove Putin, and condemning the Patriarch Kiril as his slavish disciple. They have now been convicted of what a judge termed “hooliganism driven by religious hatred.”

Few Western commentators have taken that religious element too seriously, but it is central to what Hollywood might term the back-story.

Look, above all, at the site of the demonstration. Historically, Christ the Savior was a central shrine both of the Orthodox faith and of Russian national pride, and for that reason, the Bolsheviks targeted it for destruction. In 1931, in a notorious act of cultural vandalism, the Soviet government dynamited the old building, leveling it to the ground, and replacing it with a public swimming pool. Not until 1990 did a new regime permit a rebuilding, funded largely by ordinary believers, and the vast new structure was consecrated in 2000. The cathedral is thus a primary memorial to the restoration of Russia’s Christianity after a savage persecution.

It’s difficult, perhaps, for Westerners to realize how bloodthirsty that government assault was. Russia in 1917 was overwhelmingly Orthodox, and in fact was undergoing a widespread religious revival. Rooting out that faith demanded forceful action by the new Bolshevik government, which had no scruples about imposing its will on the wishes of a vast majority. Government leaders like Alexandra Kollontai — the self-proclaimed Female Antichrist — illegally seized historic churches and monasteries, and used soldiers to suppress the resulting demonstration. Hundreds were killed in those actions alone.

Through the 1920s, the Bolsheviks systematically wiped out the church’s leaders. Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev perished in 1918, shot outside the historic Monastery of the Caves, while Bishop Hermogenes of Tobolsk was drowned in a Siberian river. Archbishop Andronicus of Perm was killed the following year, followed by most of his clergy. In 1920, Bishop Joachim of Nizhni Novgorod was crucified upside down from the iconostasis in his cathedral. In 1922, a firing squad executed the powerful Benjamin, Metropolitan of Petrograd/St. Petersburg. The repression was indiscriminate, paying no attention to the victims’ records as critics of Tsarist injustice and anti-Semitism.

Persecution claimed many lives at lower levels of the church, among ordinary monks and priests. We hear of clergy shot in their hundreds, buried alive, mutilated, or fed to wild animals. Local Red officials hunted down priests as enthusiastically as their aristocratic predecessors had pursued wolves and wild boar. The number of clergy killed for their faith ran at least into the tens of thousands, with perhaps millions more lay believers.

The regime also rooted up the churches and monasteries that were the heart of Russian culture and spiritual life. Officials wandered the country, vandalizing churches, desecrating saints’ shrines and seizing church goods, and murdering those who protested the acts. Militant atheist groups used sacred objects to stage anti-religious skits and processions. Between 1927 and 1940, active Orthodox churches all but vanished from the Russian Republic, as their numbers fell from 30,000 to just 500.

In the process of dechristianization, the crowning act came in 1931 with the obliteration of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. For the Bolsheviks, it was the ultimate proof of the Death of God.

But, of course, Resurrection did come, so that a new cathedral would stand to mark a new century. The long nightmare was over.

Yet Russia’s new religious freedom is a very tender shoot, and the prospect of future turmoil has to agonize those believers who recall bygone horrors. These fears are all the more pressing when modern-day activists seem to reproduce exactly the blasphemous deeds of the past, and even in the precise places. When modern-day Orthodox look at Pussy Riot, they see the ghosts of Alexandra Kollontai and her militiamen, or the old Soviet League of Militant Godless. Are they wrong to do so?

I just offer an analogy. Imagine a dissident group opposed to the current governments of Poland or Hungary. In order to grab media attention, they take over one of those countries’ recently restored synagogues, and frame their complaint in the form of a pseudo-Jewish prayer. Horrified, the authorities arrest them and threaten harsh criminal penalties. Not only would international media fully support the governments in those circumstances, but they would complain bitterly if police and courts showed any signs of leniency. However serious a group’s grievances, there is absolutely no justification for expressing them with such mind-boggling historical insensitivity, and in such a place. Anywhere but there!

So no, I won’t be giving to any Pussy Riot support groups.

Philip Jenkins is a Distinguished Professor of History at Baylor University and a columnist for RealClearReligion. His latest book is Laying Down the Sword.

Page Printed from: http://www.realclearreligion.org/articles/2012/08/20/the_new_soviet_league_of_militant_godless.html at August 20, 2012 – 09:28:58 AM EDT

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Sermon ~ The Miracle of Forgiveness

Posted on by Fr. Peter

A boy one went out of his home to do something his parents felt was wrong.  He was involved in an accident and lost both of his legs.  When his parents saw him, he said to them, “Will you forgive me?” Running up to him, they both hugged him and said, “Of course, we have already forgiven you.” And he answered, “Then I can live without my legs.”

The entirety of the Gospel message is about reconciliation.  Reconciliation with God, and reconciliation with our fellow human beings.

Obviously this is an essential part of our Christian life because it is mentioned so often in Scripture, the Liturgy, and the other prayers and writing of our Church.  Reconciliation is not something that is optional it is essential.

Few of us can live without forgiveness. Jesus spoke often about forgiveness.  Today we read the parable of the Unmerciful Servant.  This parable is a commentary on two things Jesus taught, “Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.” (Matthew 5:7) and “Forgive us our debts as we have also forgiven our debtors.” (Matthew 6:12)

We heard in this story today about a man who owed a debt of 10,000 talents.  Ten thousand talents would have been an impossible sum to repay.  It was more than a laborer could earn in several life times. Think of this as  billion or more dollars. It is not known how or why the man owes this money, maybe he fell victim to the mortgage scheme of his day, but it is not applicable to the story.  Just know that this debt was impossible to repay.

In the ancient of days, like today, a person could be thrown in jail or made to become a servant of the person owed the money until the debt was paid.  In some circumstances, the person’s family was also sold into slavery until the debt was paid if ever, and in extreme cases, the descendants of the person who owed the debt were also born into slavery.  Owing money was a serious position and was dealt with extremely hard.

The debtor falls on his knees and begs this lord to take pity on him, and if he only would be given time he would pay off the amount owed.  Then the most remarkable thing happens, the man forgives him, not only of the offence of not repaying, but he forgives him the whole debt.  Imagine, the banks that hold your mortgage calling you up one day and saying we are taking pity on you, and we have forgiven your entire mortgage. Your deed is in the mail!  That would be phenomenal.  But that is exactly what happened in this story we heard today.

But it does not end there.

Next we see the man who was forgiven his debt goes out and runs into a man who owes him 100 denari, this was about three months wages.  The man who had just been forgiven says to the one who owes him, actually he takes him by the throat, and tells him he has to pay.  The man falls on his knees and begs for mercy and asks for a little time to pay off the debt.  The man will hear none of this and throws him into prison.  When the lord heard of this, he became angry, calls the man in before him, and chastises him for not showing mercy on the one who owed him and as a penalty throws him into prison.

Today, what we have heard from the lips of Jesus, is a foretaste of what is to come for all of us.  You see we have to forgive, why, because we have already been forgiven by God for whatever it is that we have done.  Before we can even muster the courage to utter the words He has already forgiven us.

The parable is not just about some guy who owed some other guy money. It is about us and how we ask forgiveness from God when we come to Confession.  We fall on our knees if we can get down there anyway, and we ask God to forgive what we have done or what we have failed to do, and without blinking an eye, He forgives us.

But it does not stop there.

Just as we see in this parable if we do not forgive we are not forgiven.  I have preached on this before, we have no other option but to forgive everyone whatever it is that they have done.  We are commanded to do it time and time again, it is essential to our life as Christians, and it is crucial to our journey towards Theosis.

The passage from the Beatitudes I mentioned earlier, Blessed are those who show mercy, we hear this each and every Liturgy just before the Word of God is brought out into the Congregation.  The small entrance we make in the Liturgy is the symbolic way of showing the very word of God, coming from the Holy Place, to the people, then we break open that Word and we share it. We do not keep it to ourselves, but we share it with all present.  I also mentioned the passage from the Lord’s Prayer, the prayer that Jesus Himself taught to His apostles and to us, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors!  We have no other choice but to forgive.

If you have been following the news the last few weeks you know that a group of women stood in the Cathedral in Moscow, and performed a song aimed at the Russian President, it was a kind of political protest, and they chose the Cathedral in part because of the role the Russian Orthodox Church has been playing in politics in Russia these last few years.

The women stood in front of the Holy Doors, right where I am standing, with masks over their heads, and they mocked the Church.  Right in the middle of the most sacred places they mocked God!  They were arrested and thrown into prison.  On Friday, they were convicted of Hooliganism and given a sentence of two years in prison.

Keeping in mind that this was done in the middle of the day when many faithful had come to the Cathedral to pray, and keeping in mind that they stood at the Holy Place and mocked God, the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church asked the court to show mercy on them and suspend their sentence.  You see he showed significant mercy and forgiveness on what they had done to the Church, and I will add he had no other choice!

If we preach Christ Crucified, as we have too, then we have no other alternative to but to ask for forgiveness and mercy.  Jesus hanging on that cross, with the nails in his flesh, asked God to forgive those who had done this to Him.  He asked God to forgive those who killed him, but not just those that were present at the crucifixion but everyone who had come before and everyone who would come after.  With those sacred words, Jesus Himself was asking God to forgive you and to forgive me!  More than 2,000 years ago Jesus was asking His Father to forgive us!  How can we not forgive?

If we are holding a grudge against another, we are blocking the prayer line to God.  St. Paul said to the Ephesians, “Let all bitterness and wrath and clamor and anger and slander be put away from you, with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:31)

How many lawsuits would be dropped if we forgave? How many ulcers and heart attacks would be prevented? How many marriages saved? How many parent-child rifts spared if we were kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God in Christ forgave us?

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Practical Tips for Orthodox Living

Posted on by Fr. Peter

1) Prayers are said morning and evening, either together as a family or individually.

2) A blessing (grace, we called it) is said by the head of the family before a meal, and a prayer of thanks afterwards.

3) On entering a room where there is an icon, cross yourself before it and say a brief prayer.

4) When leaving one’s dwelling, make the sign of the cross over the door and pray for its protection.

5) On seeing a priest, abbot or abbess, or even when phoning them or writing to them, always ask their blessing.

6) Before going to bed, make the sign of the cross over it and pray for protection during sleep.

7) When you hear of anyone’s death, immediately say a prayer for their eternal memory.

8) If discussing or planning the future say: “As God wills.”

9) If you offend or hurt anyone, say as soon as possible, “Forgive me,” always trying to take the blame yourself

10) If something turns out well, say “Praise be (to God).”

11) If something turns out badly, if there is pain, sickness or any kind of trouble, say “Praise be to God for all things,” since God is all good and, though we might not understand the purpose of these things, undoubtedly they have been permitted by God

12) If you begin some task, say, “God help me,” or if someone else’ working: “May God help you,” (How sad that this expression is so perverted in the modern exclamation “God help you!”)

13) Cross yourself and say a brief prayer before even the shortest journey by car.

14) For a longer and more difficult journey, ask a priest to sing a Moleben, failing that, at home say the troparion and kontakion for a journey.

15) If there is a possibility of future trouble of any kind, either for yourself or for someone you care for, say an Akathist to the Mother of God.

16) When you receive a blessing after prayer, always remember to thank God; if it is a small thing, you may add a prayer of thanksgiving to your daily prayers or make an offering. For matters of greater import, ask the priest to serve the Thanksgiving Moleben. But NEVER neglect to give thanks.

– by Mother Pelagia of Lesna Convent

h/t Simply Orthodox

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Morning Prayer

Posted on by Fr. Peter

Thanks be to you O God

that I have risen this day

To the rising of this life itself.

O God of every gift,

A day of new beginnings given.

Help me to avoid every sin

And the source of every sin to forsake

And as the mist scatters

from the crest of the hills

May each ill haze clear

from my soul O God.

Celtic Prayer from Iona
By J. Philip Newell

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Finnan Haddie

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Photo from www.mainefinnanhaddie.com

I am not what one would call a big fish eater but tonight I took a chance a made a new recipe.  This comes from the Scottish Family Cookbook published by the New Hampshire Saint Andrew’s Society.

Finnan Haddie is a cold smoked haddock that was perfected in Scotland.  It has a gentle smoke flavor but just enough to add that flavor to this dish.  Unlike most smoked foods, cold smoking does not cook the fish but only flavors it so the fish still needs to be cooked.

1 lb. finnan haddie                                             4 T. flour
½ c. chopped onion                                         1 c. milk
½ c. chopped parsley                                      1 c. light cream
6 T. butter                                                             Freshly cracked black pepper to taste

Heat a large covered pan and add 2 tablespoons of butter and onion.  Sauté for a few minutes and add the fish and pepper.  Cover and cook for 5 minutes. In a separate sauce pan melt 4 tablespoons butter and mix in the flour until blended. Add milk and cream to saucepan and stir over medium heat to thicken (5-8 minutes).  Add sauce to fish and onions in frying pan, mix well, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Garnish with chopped parsley and pepper, serve over toast points.  May also be served on toasted and buttered English muffin, topped with a poached egg with parsley garnish and pepper as Eggs Glenfinnan.

I added the poached eggs and have to say this made the meal!

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Communiqué on the resurgence of Violence spreading throughout the World

Posted on by Fr. Peter
His All Holiness Bartholomew I of Constantinople & Ecumenical Patriarch

The Ecumenical Patriarchate expresses profound concern about the resurgence of violence currently spreading throughout the world. From America to Africa and throughout Europe and Asia, continents are confronted with the phenomenon of intolerance that not only undermines world stability and peace, but also constitutes a denial of human dignity. Racial murders, genocide, ethnic cleansing, anti-semitism, destruction of places of worship etc, constitute barbaric acts that must be denounced publicly, particularly when they are masked with the veil of religion in an effort to justify them.

The Ecumenical Patriarchate is particularly concerned about the situations in the Middle East, as well as in Nigeria and Sudan. Clashes between Christians and Muslims in these parts of the world must be overcome by promoting love for one’s neighbor as the peaceful expression of the bond uniting every human being.  Furthermore, the Ecumenical Patriarchate is deeply concerned about the future of the people of Syria, as well as for the future of Christianity in that country.  Therefore, we are calling on all parties involved in this conflict to lay down their weapons, especially given the urgency of the humanitarian situation.

The solution to such conflicts requires dialogue above all else.  Dialogue constitutes more than merely a better understanding or toleration of our differences, indeed, dialogue is the essence of reconciliation and transformation. Therefore, religious leaders should be working together, through dialogue, to affirm God’s peace in the world.  We, as religious leaders, have a moral obligation to resist war and promote peace as a vital and fundamental necessity for all humanity. Religion cannot and should never be a basis for war and conflict, nor should it be used as an instrument of fundamentalism and fanaticism for purely political motives and ends. With great resolve, we have repeatedly emphasized that any crime in the name of religion is a crime against religion. In this respect, dialogue is the only hope for attaining peace.

Finally, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the Ecumenical Patriarchate express their solidarity with and compassion to all communities affected by violence, addressing a fervent appeal to all autocephalous Orthodox Churches, all Christian Churches and religious communities, as well as to international organizations and states, as well as every person of good will, to contribute to the triumph of peace over war and hatred.

At the Ecumenical Patriarchate, August 14, 2012

The Chief Secretariat of the Holy and Sacred Synod

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Sermon ~ The Start of the Journey

Posted on by Fr. Peter

It is not very often that a movie that I watch affects me either in a good way or in a bad way.  Recently I watched a movie that has done just that.  I would say that it affected me in a very profound way as here it is several weeks later and I am still talking about it.  The movie is The Way starring Martin Sheen.

Sheen plays a dentist named Tom.  Tom lost his wife some time ago, we do not know how, and has one son who is sort of a free spirit.  He has dropped out of his PhD program and decides he is going to back pack around Europe.  I always wonder about people like this.  How can they afford to just pack up and go walk around Europe?  Anyway, Daniel, Tom’s son, decides he is going to walk the Camino de Santiago, also known as the Way of St. James.

The Camino is a trek of some 497 miles that ends at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela where the relics of Saint James are buried.  I have a priest friend who has made this journey and it is not an easy journey to take.  Imagine, just for a moment, walking 497 miles!  You have to carry everything that you will need for this journey on your back.  You average 20 miles a day rain or shine and you sleep in large dormitories scattered all along the way that have been established just for this purpose.  Along The Way, you see amazing country side and meet some wonderful and not so wonderful people.

Daniel ends up not making the journey because he is killed in a freak storm just as he starts and that is what brings Tom to Spain to retrieve the body of his now dead son.  Tom struggles to understand why his son has always done the things that he has done.  Tom was always busy with his practice and all of the things that go along with being a success in this world and never took the time, really took the time to get to know his son.  In a moment that can only be described as spiritual, Tom decides that he will make the Way and take Daniel along with him.  He has his son cremated and is going to scatter his ashes along the way.

So the journey begins.  Tom, who is out of shape by the way for a trip such as this, takes his sons back pack and sets out on the journey.  He is not sure what he is going to discover about his son along the way but he takes that first step, a step of faith and starts on the road of discovery.

As I was watching this movie, and trying to figure it all out, I was reminded of our spiritual journey that we all undertake on the path to Theosis.  For us Orthodox, the life that we lead has one goal, or should have one goal, it’s not to make lots of money or to have the big house and fancy car, no, the goal of an Orthodox Christian is to become godlike and that is the process of Theosis.

Saint Athanasius, meditating on the first verses of the Gospel of St. John that we read on Pascha each year, said, “The Word, God, became a man so that Man might become god.”  At the start of creation we were created as perfect beings.  The Book of Genesis tells us that Adam and Eve walked with God, they were in the very presence of God in the Garden that we call Eden but was actually paradise.  They had physical contact with God, they were able to touch him and walk with him.  It was only after we, human beings, let sin into the world that that relationship became corrupted and we lost that state.

You have heard me say before that humanity was, and is, created in the image and likeness of God but that image is tarnished a little by sin.  The journey of Theosis is the journey to remove that tarnish.

Many of you have polished silver.  We have several pieces here that are silver and need polishing and so every year or so I take them out of the cupboard in the back and I polish them.  I work for a few hours to get all the tarnish out of the nooks and crannies and polish it up nice.  I put it back in the cupboard, knowing full well, that in another year or so I will be doing the same thing.  Of course there are all sorts of new things available that make this job easier but in the end the tarnish comes back.

Our spiritual life is the same way.  We were created as pure silver, untarnished, and then the tarnish started to appear.  We work to remove that tarnish and the work is not easy.  Oh sure some have come along and said not to worry we are all okay, that tarnish does not exists, we do not have to worry about removing that follow me and the tarnish will not matter, but before long the tarnish comes back.  It is only through constant care that we keep the tarnish away, and that is the journey that we are on.  There is no easy solution to the removal of the tarnish, or sin as we call it in the spiritual life, and it takes a lifetime.

In the Philokalia, that great spiritual work, St. Hesychios the Priest wrote about Watchfulness and Holiness.  We must be ever vigilant to keep watch over what we say and over what we do so we can try and keep the tarnish off.  If I can sum up in one word the entirety of the spiritual life it would be just that, watchfulness.

As you know, I spent several years in the Army.  As everyone who has ever served their country in the military knows you have to spend time, a lot of time, on guard duty.  In order to be affective on guard duty you need to be watchful and every vigilant that nothing gets past your post as the lives of those you are guarding depends on it.  If one thing gets past the mission could be compromised and people could lose their lives.  The spiritual life is the same way.  We stand guard at our soul trying to keep the evil one out.  The evil one tries to creep in through our thoughts, and our words, and our actions.  We need to be on guard duty to keep the evil one from invading our soul.

How do we do this?  The Church has given us the way.  You are doing it right now.  You are here at Liturgy, but this is only part of it.  We keep guard by prayer, daily prayer.  Not just a quick thank you God that I am awake, but some quality time in prayer.  It does not have to be long but we should spend time each day in prayer.

Fasting, I know, we joke about it some of us are better at it than others, but this is something that we have to do.  All of us, regardless of our medical condition or age, can practice some part of the fast/abstinence that our church calls us too.  It is not just about food.  We spend so much time talking about food during the fasting periods. We get so crazy about it.  But what about fasting with our lips, stop the gossip and talking about other people.  One rule I have tried, and failed at by the way, is not to say anything about anyone that I would not want them to hear me say, and if it is not a kind word, then don’t say it.  We do not have to say everything that comes to mind.  Sometimes the most charitable thing we can do is say nothing, and if we hear it, or someone calls us on the phone and wants to tell you about what so and so did or said, tell them you are not interested, do not even listen to it, just tell them no this is how we fast with our ears as well.  Fasting with our hands.  Don’t do things that we know are wrong.  And finally we fast with our minds by trying as hard as we can to think pleasant thoughts.  I know it sounds pie in the sky but we need to try.

And the last part of watchfulness is Scripture reading.  Daily Scripture reading.  I send out a daily email to those who have email, that includes the reading of the day from the lectionary of our Church.  It takes less than 5 minutes to read them each day.  If you do not have email, you can look them up in your Bible.  If you have smart phone, there is a free app you can get that puts the daily readings, and other prayers of the church, right on your phone or iPad or other device.  There is no excuse, or sure we have all sorts of excuses, but there is no excuse for not reading Scripture daily.

All along the 497 mile journey Tom came into contact with all sorts of people.  They were all making The Way, for different reasons but in the end they were all changed.  They were all different people when they finished the  journey then they were when they started.  Something profound happened along that journey that would not have happened it if they had not taken it.  Tom never would have truly know his son, or himself for that matter, if he had not decided the take that first step, and to keep taking that first step.  Yes, there were bumps along the way, but he kept going with the help of those around him.  Tom quickly learned that he could not make this journey alone.

We have to take the journey, we have to decide right here and right now, that we are going to get serious about our life in the Church, we owe it to ourselves to do this.  Tom needed to take the journey that he did for many reasons, and we need to take the journey as well.  The time has come, the time is now to take that first step.

What is preventing you from taking that first step?

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Massachusetts Death With Dignity Act

Posted on by Fr. Peter

There is much at stake in this election season.  We have an opportunity to chart the course of our nation for the next four years.  In Massachusetts we will be asked to vote for a law that will allow physicians in Massachusetts to end the life of their patients.

As Orthodox Christians, we believe that life is a gift from God. The All-Holy and Life-Giving Trinity created all things and granted life to all living creatures. Out of His love, God made us, human beings, in His own divine image and likeness, entrusting us as stewards—not owners—of our lives, blessing us with the capacity of freedom, and calling us to a life of loving communion.

Orthodox Pastoral Letter on Suicide

Life is precious. Every hour, every minute lived is an opportunity to spend time with a loved one, reconcile with an estranged friend, accomplish something new or prepare for the end that eventually comes to everyone without any artificial hastening. That’s one of the reasons MCFL is firmly opposed to the “Massachusetts Death with Dignity Act.” The “Death with Dignity” Initiative would legalize Doctor Prescribed Suicide and make it legal for doctors to prescribe a lethal substance to any patient who has been diagnosed with a “terminal” illness. In places which have adopted such laws, evidence suggests that the elderly, disabled and infirm are often pressured to kill themselves rather than become a “burden” on relatives, insurance companies or the state. Will vulnerable patients be encouraged to commit suicide as a means of keeping inheritances intact or containing healthcare costs? It has also been shown that a significant number of the people who avail themselves of this option in states and countries where assisted suicide is legal suffer from severe, but entirely treatable, depression. Will suicide become a recommended “treatment” for mental illness? And what happens to medical ethics and the relationship between doctor and patient? Do we really want our healers mixed up in the business of causing death? The many questions posed by this measure make it poor public policy which should be opposed by all citizens of Massachusetts.

Massachusetts Citizens for Life

There are several resources that you can consult to educate yourself on this issue.  I ask that each voter in Massachusetts spend sometime and really study this issue.  As an Orthodox Christian I am opposed to this idea because we believe that every life is sacred and should be protected.

Suicide is Always a Tragedy

Doctors Against Suicide

Orthodox Pastoral Letter on Suicide

Massachusetts Citizens for Life Resources

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