Condition of our Soul

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Maybe not the best title for this post but I did not know what else to use.

In the Liturgy of St. Basil, right before the Our Father we hear this prayer read by the priest, or maybe we do not:

Our God, the God who saves, You teach us justly to thank You for the good things which You have done and still do for us. You are our God who has accepted these Gifts. Cleanse us from every defilement of flesh and spirit, and teach us how to live in holiness by Your fear, so that receiving the portion of Your holy Gifts with a clear conscience we may be united with the holy Body and Blood of Your Christ. Having received them worthily, may we have Christ dwelling in our hearts, and may we become the temple of Your Holy Spirit. Yes, our God, let none of us be guilty before these, Your awesome and heavenly Mysteries, nor be infirm in body and soul by partaking of them unworthily. But enable us, even up to our last breath, to receive a portion of Your holy Gifts worthily, as provision for eternal life and as an acceptable defense at the awesome judgment seat of Your Christ. So that we also, together with all the saints who through the ages have pleased You, may become partakers of Your eternal good things, which You, Lord, have prepared for those who love You.

I am struck by a couple of the lines. Cleanse us from every defilement of flesh and spirit… This seems confessional to me and maybe even an absolution of sin. Let none of us be guilty before these… Let none of us? It would seem that we are asking to be made worthy of reception. Now perhaps it assumes a sacramental confession has taken place I don’t know we could argue that I guess. It continues, nor be inform in body and souls by partaking of them unworthily. In a previous discussion one of the commenter’s said that I as priest should protect the faithful from receiving the gifts unworthily. It would seem that is taken care of here as well.

So it would seem that the onus is on the one who is receiving the gifts to receive them in a spirit of worthiness whatever that may be. I also find it interesting that in no place in the Liturgy are the requirements, other than the ones discussed, are spelled out. Like I said before maybe it is assumed that everyone knows the rules already.

Now a clarification for Bob on my April 6th comment on coming to Communion in my church. I will never refuse anyone who approaches the cup communion as I think that causes scandal and embarrassment. I will however speak with the persona after the fact and advise them of the situation, as I see it. As I have mentioned before I am not advocating a wholesale openness of Communion but Baptized, belief in the creed, and the real presence, by all means. But I will ask you this question Bob, how am I supposed to test this? I ask this in all seriousness. I have people in and out of this church all the time that I do not know. It is hard enough keeping up with my parishioners let alone guests. And very rarely does some come who is not Orthodox to begin with. So Bob, help me out here how can I gauge this?

Clarification of Thought

Posted on by Fr. Peter
One of my favorite authors is Peter Maurin co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement. Maybe he is one of my favorites because my all time favorite actor Martin Sheen played him in the movie about Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker movement.

Maurin advocated round table discussion for the clarification of thought. He believed that we learned best through dialogue. When we are able to have a discussion we can learn from one another.

I am attempting to have a round table discussion here on the blog about some parts of the faith for a clarification of thought. I welcome your participation at whatever level you wish to participate. I have noticed a very large increase in hits since my original post on Communion.

Growth comes through learning and learning comes through discussion. There is nothing wrong with discussion.

Faith…

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Fr. Greg continues his look at the Greek translation of the phrase Approach in the fear of God with faith and with love.
What is this faith that we speak of? Do we mean the entire body of faith of the Orthodox or a portion of it?
Let us turn to the Liturgy to see f the answer is there. After communion the priest lifts the chalice and sings, “Save, O God, your people and bless your inheritance.” The people then respond, ” We have seen the true light; we have received the heavenly Spirit; we have found the true faith, worshiping the undivided Trinity, Who has saved us.”
So what is the true faith that we have found. A quick read of this phrase would suggest, I think, that it is the worship of the Undivided Trinity and nothing else. Now with a Trinitarian belief come a whole host of other beliefs as well. Perhaps the faith is the Creed that we say at the Liturgy, or maybe it is the whole body of faith. I am not sure that the writer of the Liturgy would have added that part unless it was important. can we sum up all of our belief in the Trinity. Father (creator) Son (redeemer) Holy Spirit (sanctifier)? can we talk about the Trinity in such a way that we can discuss the whole of the faith? Then can someone with a belief in the Trinity then approach?

Thoughts?

What a Day!

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Very busy today. The regular round of liturgical services and and off to the celebration of the Kirkin of the Tartans. Today, April 6th is Tartan Day in the US and we Scots celebrate our heritage with a church service. What a great turn out of people in kilts. About 150 people.

You know a few days ago I posted something about communion and this really has brought the nasty Christians out. Why is it that people cannot have a frank discussion about something. One person, whose comment I rejected by the way, actually asked what my bishop thought about my post I don’t know I don’t think he reads it. I was told that I am welcome to my opinions but I am not allowed to teach them. Hmmmm very interesting. I do not think it is wrong to ask questions and have a discussion. I am sure if you poled most priests they would say the same thing. I have not been called a heretic since my seminary days.

I for one would appreciate it if you have nothing constructive to add to the conversation just move on. Your nasty comments will not be posted. I reserve the right to delete any comment I feel is disrespectful!

From the Presanctified Liturgy

Posted on by Fr. Peter
In you are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, O God of mysteries beyond our sight and speech! You revealed the ministry of this liturgy to us, and then in your immense love for humanity, you called us, though we are sinners, to offer you gifts and sacrifices for our own sins and for the transgression of the people. Your works are without number, O invisible King! They are great and remarkable, escaping all our understanding! Look on us, you unworthy servants, as we stand here before this altar of sacrifice as if before your very cherub-throne! Here rests your only Son, beneath the awesome mysteries that lie here before us. Rescue us and all your faithful people from every impurity and, with a blessing that can never be lost, make us holy both in body and soul. With a clear conscious and enlightened heart, let us share in these divine mysteries. Let them fill us with life, so that we may become one with your Christ, our true God. For it was He who said: Whoever eats my body and drinks my blood shares my life and I share his. Thus, with your living word within us and present in our midst, we shall become the temples of your all-holy and adorable Spirit, safe from all the wiles of the evil one, whether in word or in deed or thought. Then we shall receive all the good things you promised us, together with all your saints who have pleased you from the very beginning.

Clarification

Posted on by Fr. Peter
I think I need to clarify my position a little more here. I have been taken to task around the blogosphere for advocating open communion. I guess I should have defined this term as I see it. First off I believe that one should be baptized in order to approach the cup. I also believe that there should be some fundamental belief in the real presence. But I will ask this question. Ask any of your fellow parishioners, not converts mind you, and see if they understand the real presence or not. This is another problem if they do not but someone said they should believe this and I agree but what if someone who has been orthodox from birth does not believe because they have never been taught? Trust me they are out there.

On another blog someone used the term heterodox. If you want to know what it means look it up. But they are making my point exactly. If a person is using terms like heterodox and heretic then they are not open to new people in the church and they need a long look at their own motives. Just my opinion.

So if we are to hols that the requirement to receive is to believe in the real presence, then why are we still using communion, of lack of communion, to stay separated from each other? If the Roman Church and dare I say the Anglican Church believes in the real presence and they are baptized, then why should they not come forward and receive? But how are we to check this out? In my small parish I know each person and they know me. But what of a priest in a parish with several hundred or even a thousand, there is no way he/she (ok I will get flamed for that as well) will be able to know what is in each persons heart. This is a problem.

The Eucharist is a balm for healing. A medicine if you will. I cannot withhold medication from someone that is in need. Jesus ate and drank with sinners because they were the ones that needed Him. Why should HIS church be more exclusive then HE was?

If you come to my church you are welcome to approach the cup!

Fear

Posted on by Fr. Peter
So there has been much discussion of this word fear offline. Look for more postings on this very soon from the Greek perspective. My friend Huw of at the Sarx Blog has a wonderful post on the topic from the Hebrew perspective.

I looked in my Romanian Liturgy book for that phrase and the word is frica. So I had to get out my Romanian English dictionary to seek out the meaning of that word. Frica = Fear, Fright, Panic. So we see the same theme. So I am guessing that the original meaning is fear as in be afraid.

Like I said this is a stream of consciousness type of post so hang in there with me.

Approach in the Fear of God…

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Yesterdays post on Communion seems to have brought in many visitors and several comments. Just so you know this is a stream of consciousness post and I have no conclusions. When I was in seminary we were taught that we must use precise language when speaking about Theology. I do not consider myself a theologian. I am more of pastoral/historical type of priest than anything else. So please forgive my simplistic view of things. (if my words make you upset then I welcome you to not return to MY blog.)

I began my seminary time in a Roman Catholic seminary and I can remember in a class on Sacramental Theology the priest using the term tripartite structure of the sacraments. My first thought was what a cool word. Then I got really sad and wondered when, if ever, I would use that term in parish ministry. Well I guess I just did… Anyway sometimes we get lost in all of the stuff. I am not saying that these things are not important but in a world that is hurting it seems more powerful to me to bring Jesus to the people.

So what is this fear of God? In one of the replies I mentioned that I think this is a bad translation of this word and it should be awe. But that is very clumsy to try and sing so I use the more harsh word fear. According to Proverbs 9:10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” We usually stop with the fear of the Lord part but I like the end of that verse. So should we fear God? God is love and I don’t think we should fear love. God loves us unconditionally like a father loves his children. Not having any children I am not acquainted with giving this type of love but I have been the recipient of this type. So where does all this leave us?

I do not think we should Fear God in the sense that we have made this line out to be. God does not want us to fear Him, after all He sent His only Son to us to show us the way. That is not something to be feared, this was not done to make us afraid but to show us His love. People approached Jesus, and if we believe our Trinitarian Theology then Jesus is God, in a such a way and He showed them love and concern for what they were seeking. He may have spoken sternly to them but he never told them to go away.

I think we should be concerned, rather than fear, the day that we all will be judged for what we have done. And perhaps that is what we are trying to get at here with the word fear. I do not know enough Greek to know what the word is in Greek, perhaps one of you reading this will know and can leave a comment. But in English this is a strong word. We are approaching the Lord, the King, the Creator, when we come to communion and there should be a certain sense of reverence for what we are about to do. In days of old one used to kneel to receive Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Maybe that is what we should be thinking about. What is our state of mind when we are walking down the isle to receive communion. Are we thinking about what we are going to do after church? Are we thinking about the Red Sox game or the Patriots game that is on latter in the day? What should we be thinking of? I am not saying that we should approach on our knees as worms or anything of the sort. We are to approach with a sens of reverence, awe, and such not fear in the English sense of the word.

Next time I will try to unpack the next part of that statement with faith… and the third part with love… What do these pericopies say to us?

National Public Radio

Posted on by Fr. Peter
I have a long standing tradition please send money that I listen to my local NPR station while to do my morning routine please send money. They are in the middle of their spring fundraiser please send money and it seem that every five minutes they are begging please send money. After each report they spend two minutes please send money asking me to send them some cash. Now I will admit please send money that I have never been a contributor please send money and if I had a million dollars I would send it to them as long as they stooped asking for money please send money.
Okay rant over please send money now back to our regular program, oh ya please send money!
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