Be Not Conformed
Editor: I have to say this hit home with me. Each and every Orthodox Christian should read this article and take it to heart!
And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God. (Rom. 12:2)
Some time ago I accepted a parish that had many third- and fourth-generation émigrés: Just as had their fathers and grandfathers, these parishioners devoted a good deal of energy and money to the growth of their church, building an impressive modern-style edifice in a prosperous section of their city. They organized many social and profit-making events, kept their finances with a bookkeeping system that could have matched that of any reputable business, and in general seemed a model enterprise. Having spent all my years as a priest in relatively poor and small communities, I expected to welcome the material change.
Very soon, however, the contradictions between form and content began to appear. No one came to vespers and matins services on Saturday nights, children were taken away for religious lessons from the Sunday Liturgy itself, and the bulletin’s persistent “did you light a candle for, someone today?” began to sound more like a demand for money rather than a suggestion to remember the faithful in one’s prayers. Our whole family began to feel part of an actor’s troupe, coming out for performances at the scheduled times. The secular world of drama, however, can prove surprisingly moving on occasion, but religion here did not appear to offer even this satisfaction. Growing increasingly dismayed at the dearth of genuine spiritual life, I began to search for an answer.
I did not have to look long. The members of the General Committee approached me themselves with what they, too, perceived as a problem. Just as I worried over their overlooking the forms of Orthodoxy–attending services, privately praying, keeping the fasts–so they felt concern over my preserving the forms. They wanted someone who could continue to lead the parish along the course it had developed for itself in isolation over the decades: integrating with modern society around it to satisfaction, it was a community of already well-established and upwardly mobile businessmen, both full of ambition and the desire to succeed, wanting a pastor and parish commensurate with the status they desired. And so they approached me, a man admittedly poorly versed in the’ ways of the corporate world, with a specific request. Could I cut my hair and beard, wear a dark suit and collar instead of black robes? My appearance as an Orthodox priest struck too much of a jarring note; it did not fit in with their image of a proper leader. The classic ideal of an Orthodox pastor walking within those living on the earth as a reminder of the other world only disconcerted them as an awkward anachronism. I went home that night to think about my obligations both as their parish priest and as a servant of the Orthodox Faith, about form and essence, and realized several things.
Why am I the way I am, I wondered. It is not because I am stubborn. It is possible that the modern way would even be more convenient for me. But I am Orthodox. It was my personal decision during World War II to serve God as an Orthodox priest, and appearance is an integral part of this.
If we study Church history and the lives of our martyrs, we find that they often gave up their lives for Orthodoxy, even though sometimes nothing special was asked of them–only some incense · in front of an idol, for example. They could have done that and remained orthodox at heart, going on to many good deeds. For some reason, however, they preferred to give up their lives so that generations to come would have an example of how to cherish this Orthodox Faith. Our faith is interwoven with traditions and customs, like a beautiful design. When one takes something out, it loses its completeness. And yet, if we look back over time, we will notice that instead of preserving Orthodoxy, we keep adjusting it to the times.
In the time of St. John Chrysostom, the saint was concerned that people came to church, but did not take part in Holy Communion. Through the centuries, however, people grew used to this, and now they consider it odd if someone goes to Holy Communion· very often. As the years went by, people started breaking the fast on Wednesdays and Fridays and other prescribed fasts. Later it became too much for them to attend services in the evening, so in many parishes they are omitted entirely. Later some decided that it was too hard to stand through the one service they did attend, so they have the pews. Sometimes people are ashamed to cross themselves in public, so they avoid it. In some parishes they have even changed the calendar, and who knows what other changes the times will demand. Future generations coming into a modern Orthodox church will well wonder what the difference is between the Orthodox Church and the Western churches, and why bother going to the Orthodox Church if it is like the one next door.
We must be very careful. Do we want to be Orthodox in name only, or Orthodox in faith? Calling oneself Eastern Orthodox and feeling Orthodox within cannot be separated from being Orthodox in our actions as well. Our faith is many things, but it is above all a light illuminating all aspects of our life. It is both a miracle and the most natural thing in the world . The earth’s ephemera will always flit past to catch our fancy, but it can only underscore the eternity of our faith. We can love the life Christ redeemed through His Resurrection, and we can love the life to come still more.· As long as we are soul and body, creatures of both matter and spirit, we need-to fulfill Orthodoxy’s instructions on both. Let us rejoice in our unity within the Eastern Church, try to unite form and spirit, and “commit ourselves and one another and all our lives unto Christ, our God.” Amen.
Fr. Boris Kizenko
Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church
Vineland, New Jersey
h/t Sobornost
Spy Wednesday
** I am reposting this from last year. **
In the Orthodox Church we do not call the Wednesday of Holy Week Spy Wednesday but we do, commemorate is not really the right word, remember how Judas conspired with the Sanhedrin to betray Jesus before His Crucifixion.
Over the Royal Doors in our Church here in Southbridge we have an icon of the Last Supper. Jesus is in the middle and his Apostles are spread out on each side. They all have the golden halo of saints around their heads save one, the wily Judas. He sits at the end of the table looking out toward the congregation whilst the rest are look at Jesus. I love this icon, the portrait of Judas is classic. He is sitting there looking out at everyone as if to say, “What are you looking at?” He has attitude, the attitude of pride. and it is a helpful reminder of what he was about to do. He was present at that first Eucharist, but was so filled with pride he betrayed Jesus. He had too, he was part of the plan from the start.
I often think about Jesus choosing His Apostles and think why did you choose Judas? He chose Judas because Jesus knew that Judas was weak and would do what had to be done to fulfill the Scriptures. So Judas did what he had to do and sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, the same amount Joseph’s brothers got for him when the sold him to the servant of Pharaoh of Egypt. After he knew what he did was wrong and tried to return the money, but the die had been cast. Judas, filled with remorse, took his own life. I wonder what would have happened if he came to Jesus as asked His forgiveness?
The Hymns of the evening service tells the story:
The deceitful Judas, in his love for money, set out cunningly to betray You, O Lord, the Treasure of Life. Therefore in his folly he hastened to the Judeans, saying to the lawless: “What will you give me, and I will deliver Him to you, that He may be crucified?” (Kathismata 4th Tone)
Showing himself ungrateful, envious, and cunning, Judas calculates the Godworthy Gift, by which a debt of sins was forgiven; and as a knave he exploited the Divine favor. Spare our souls, O Christ our God, and save us.
Going to the lawless rulers, he says: What will you give me, and I will deliver to you the Christ, whom you want and seek?” From the closest bond with Christ, Judas is drawn away by gold. Spare our souls, O Christ our God, and save us.
O blind and implacable avarice! How is it that you forgot what You have been taught, that you are a soul, whose worth the world does not equal? For you, O betrayer, in despair hanged yourself by the neck. Spare our souls, O Christ our God, and save us. (Troparions of Great and Holy Wednesday Matins)
O misery of Judas! He saw the harlot kissing the feet, and with guile he meditated the kiss of betrayal. She unloosed her tresses, and he bound himself with fury, bringing instead of myrrh, his foul wickedness; for envy knows not to appreciate even its own advantage. O wretchedness of Judas! From this, O God, deliver our souls. (Idiomela Hymns)
Monasticism and Marriage
His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
from his book, Encountering the Mystery
In comparing monasticism to a vocation of freedom and love, the Orthodox Church closely relates it to the sacrament of marriage. Celibacy and marriage are not contrasted with each other; instead, both are compared to and directed to the love of God. In this respect, monasticism is regarded as correlative and complimentary to marriage. After all, the power of love can never be quenched; it can only be fulfilled. Thus, monastic chastity is complete in love, just as the sacrament of marriage is consummated in love. It is, therefore, unfortunate that centuries of negative connotations ascribed to the monastic way have contributed to a devaluation of marriage, as if the celibate life were somehow more pleasing to God or more spiritually fulfilling than marriage.
For the Church Fathers, love cannot be achieved without abstinence; chastity is impossible without charity (Gregory of Nyssa). Human “passions must be raised heavenward” by means of spiritual discipline and ascesis (Gregory of Nyssa, On the Soul and the Resurrection). Even the most passionate love becomes “divine and blessed” (Gregory Palamas, Triads in Defense of the Holy Hesychasts). There is no aspect of human life and no quality of human nature that cannot be transformed and redirected, through prayer and ascesis, into a divine purpose and toward a spiritual goal.
In this regard, monasticism is a way of love, which is no less and no more than the way of the Christian Gospel, no different from or better than the way of marriage. Human beings are made to love; they are created in the image and likeness of God, who is communion. Indeed, human beings become truly human only in relation to others. This is as true of a monk as it is of a person living in the world. Monastic withdrawal should never be an abdication of social responsibility. Basically, like marriage, monasticism is a sacrament of love; yet it is the sacrament of mystical love, directed toward the fulfillment of the biblical command to love God and one’s neighbor. It is love that’s greater than any human achievement of spiritual virtue. The living experience of love advances us to spiritual maturity, much more so than the severest ascetic discipline. The flame of love is what preserves the world alive. A single person burning with love can bring about the reconciliation of the whole world with God (see Gen. 18). This is what the Eastern Christian mystics speak of divine Eros, which consumes and directs one’s entire being toward divine love. Encountering the mystery of love is the goal of the spiritual life, for the monk and the married person.
Thus, for the Orthodox Church, whether one is married or whether one is celibate, one is called to struggle to transform one’s environment through love. Marriage is not idealized and monasticism is not idolized. Both can be perceived in idolatrous ways if constituting ends in themselves. Both marriage and monasticism are powerful symbolic ways of straining toward the ultimate goal of love, whether through relationships in a family and society or through prayer in one’s cell or community. The Church discerns, both through the immediate environment and within one’s own context, the love of God in the eyes of every human being and in the sacredness of the natural environment. Whether speaking of marriage or monasticism, the Orthodox Church prefers to describe it as a way of learning how to live and how to love. Marriage and monasticism matter because people matter, because love matters, and because the welfare of human beings far surpasses any legal code or spiritual ambition. This is what provides both of them with the quality of a mystical sacrament.
Orthodox Theology Defined
“Therefore, theology transcends all formulation and definition, being identified rather with personal encounter and a loving relationship with God in the communion of prayer. In such a union, the desire always remains insatiable and unending: it is the love of the bride in the Song of Songs, who forever stretches out her hands toward the one that cannot be grasped, who ever reaches for the one that cannot be attained.”
His All Holiness Bartholomew, Ecumenical Patriarch
In his book: Encountering the Mystery pg. 53
Prayer of St. Mary of Egypt
“O Sovereign Lady, who didst bear God in the flesh, I know that I should not dare to look upon thine icon, thou who are pure in soul and body, because, debauched as I am, I must fill thee with disgust. But, as the God born of thee became man in order to call sinners to repentance, come to my aid! Allow me to go into the church and prostrate before His Cross. And, as soon as I have seen the Cross, I promise that I will renounce the world and all pleasures, and follow the path of salvation that thou willest to show me.”
The Annunciation
Last Sunday we celebrated the Feast of the Annunciation. It is always weird when a major feast falls during Great Lent as I feel it does not get the attention it really deserves however because it fell on a Sunday this year it was celebrated.
I think I have always liked this feast and what it represents. A young girl is visited by an Angel and asked, notice in the story she is asked not told what God wants of her, she is asked to take on this role and after only one question Mary consents with the words, “Be it done to me according to your will.”
That’s the big part of this feast, obedience to what God wants from us. The entirety of the Christian life is working towards unlocking our inner potential. Our prayer life will help us to unlock this potential and set us on the road. Mary’s potential was that she becomes the Theotokos (the God bearer) and that was what she was raised for, that was her role in life.
Now, I am not saying that we have to consent to be the Mother of God but the question is if God was to ask that of you would you be willing to do it. Obedience is a word that has really fallen out of use in our language. Oh sure we take our dogs to obedience school and what not but are we truly obedient? Are we obedient to what the Church asks of us or do we think it is all hooey and we can do better, they are old outdated practices that no long apply to me, or do we embrace what the Church asks us to the best of our ability. As Christians we are called to a level of obedience that we are very uncomfortable with in our 21st century American life.
During the season of Lent the Church calls us back to a much simpler form of spirituality. We have a much simpler form of eating and we are reminded, through the readings, of what life with God is supposed to be like. The services of Holy Week bring us along the path with Jesus as He takes his final steps on earth, and they remind us of that walk that we are supposed to be taking with Him each and every day but we have to be obedient to His call.
In these last few days of Great Lent, take this time to get your spiritual life back on track. St. John Chrysostom in his paschal homily basically says it is never too late, but why wait the time is now!
Be in done to me according to YOUR word!
Orthodox Theology
In the Orthodox Church, theology is considered a gift. It is not something acquired through mere study or scholarly research. It is not some complicated system of intellectual discourse, the monopoly of a few specialists whose lifetimes are spent in libraries. It is not taught; rather it is caught. Moreover, by the same token, it is not some arbitrary expression or personal opinion. Indeed, it cannot be articulated outside the living continuity of tradition. Nor again is it simply the result of some authoritative declaration, publicly professed or dogmatically imposed by the institutional church. Rather, it is the fruit of a communal conscience and consensus. Theology can never be understood as some infallible proclamation by a single or even a collective source. It always derives from, is produced by, and is interpreted within the experience of the total community.
His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
Encountering the Mystery pg. 37
The Canonicity of the Church
In his book, Encountering the Mystery, His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew defines the Orthodox Church with these words:
It is defined not in relation or in contrast to Roman Catholicism or Protestantism, but rather as a seamless continuation and spiritual succession of the early Church of the Apostles, martyrs, confessors, monastics, great teachers, and saints.
I would add that for a Church to call itself Orthodox it needs to be in communion with another Orthodox Church. In the modern era this has become more and more of a problem. Do a simple Google search on the term “orthodox church” and returned will be thousands of links to websites that say they are the orthodox church. This is not always the case and I would suggest that you do a little bit of research before you attend or join any such church.
Here in North America there exists and organization of bishops called the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in North and Central America. This Assembly is the inheritor of all of the work that the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA) had been doing for the last 50 plus years. On the website of the Assembly is a list of all of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops, Priests, Deacons, and Church in North and Central America. If the Church in question is not on that list then they are NOT a canonical Orthodox Church.
This may sound harsh but the truth needs to be told that there are many thousands of so called patriarchs, metropolitans, archbishops, bishops, priests, deacons, monastics etc. out there on the internet purporting to be orthodox and leading people down the wrong road. (I used lowercase letters here for a reason.)
There is only one Orthodox Church that has many parts but they are all in communion with each other. Ask the priest who his bishop is and then check the website to see if he is listed, or even before that, check the website to see if the church is listed. The website of the Assembly has the most comprehensive list of Orthodox Churches in North and Central America anywhere on the internet.
Why is this important? I for one take the care of souls very important. I belong to a Canonical Orthodox Church, and I am a graduate from a seminary that is recognized by the Canonical Orthodox Church. I was ordained by a bishop of the Canonical Orthodox Church. I don’t just call myself Orthodox I am Orthodox.
There are many well-meaning people out there who only wish to help others and that is commendable but Scripture clearly tells us to beware of those who will lead us astray. We need to verify that the church we attend is really and truly a church in communion with the rest of the Orthodox World and the best place to start is with verification by consulting the website of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in North and Central America. The care of your soul is far too important! Please take this serious.