Diversity

Tags

Gospel, Holy Spirit, St. Ambrose, St. Ireneus

In the middle of the second century A.D., a Syrian Christian by the name of Tatian produced the Diatessaron (from the Greek meaning one through four). It was his attempt to create a single composite gospel by combining and harmonizing the texts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. This work was ultimately rejected by the Church. Indeed, St. Irenaeus, in the third book of his Against the Heresies, insists on four Gospels:

It is not possible that the Gospels can be either more or fewer in number than they are. For, since there are four zones of the world in which we live, and four principal winds, while the Church is scattered throughout all the world, and the ‘pillar and ground’ (1 Tim. 3:15) of the Church is the Gospel and the spirit of life; it is fitting that she should have four pillars, breathing out immortality on every side, and vivifying men afresh. From which fact, it is evident that the Word, the Artificer of all, He that sits upon the cherubim, and contains all things, He who was manifested to men, has given us the Gospel under four aspects, but bound together by one Spirit.

Note that last line — bound together by one Spirit. If we limit ourselves to one Gospel or attempt to harmonize the four into one, we limit God’s ability to speak to us through Scripture. Consider the following passage from the fifth chapter of the first book of St. Ambrose’s On the Holy Spirit:

The Holy Spirit, through Whom the things that are good are ministered to us, is never evil. Whence two evangelists in one and the same place, in words in differing from each other, have made the same statement, for you read in Matthew: ‘If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children; how much more shall your Father, Who is in heaven, give good things to them that ask Him.’ (7:11). But according to Luke you will find it thus written: “How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?’ (11:13). We observe, then, that the Holy Spirit is good in the Lord’s judgment by the testimony of the evangelists, since the one has put good things in the place of the Holy Spirit, the other has named the Holy Spirit in the place of good things. If, then, the Holy Spirit is that which is good, how is He not good?

If St. Ambrose were limited to just one Gospel (harmonized or no), he would be unable to make this comparison and therefore this argument on the goodness of the Holy Spirit. This goodness is revealed by having two different voices speak about the same thing. The Spirit reveals Himself through this diversity and thus demonstrates the unity of the Gospel. In turn, this reveals the unity and diversity that exists, not only within the Church, but in the Godhead — one in essence and in three persons. Amen.

Exegesis

Tags

exegesis, Gospel, Holy Spirit, Old Testament, Psalms, St. Ambrose

In modern biblical scholarship, a lot of energy is spent trying to understand author intention and historical context for each and every bit of Scripture. Read any introduction to any book of Scripture (particularly from the OT) in an annotated edition of the Bible, and therein much ink is spilled speaking of when, where and who wrote various verses, let alone entire chapters and books.

I don’t point this out to complain — there is much to learn about Scripture from such an approach. Indeed, studying the Jewish liturgical rites of the Temple at the time of Christ add an incredible depth to our understanding of the Gospel According to John, for example. I bring this up to contrast it to the exegetical approach of the Fathers of the Church, particularly those of the fourth century.

Rather than dissecting Scripture into various pieces and parts to be studied within their own context, the Fathers tend to look at the Bible as a whole. They have no qualms about juxtaposing verses from very different parts of Scripture in order to make their arguments over the nature of God. It is a methodology that might take some getting used to, but by the very fact that it is extensively used by the Fathers, it is something we need to acknowledge.

For example, in the first chapter of the first book of his treatise On the Holy Spirit, St. Ambrose juxtaposes three verses in order to speak about the divinity of the Holy Spirit. They are Psalm 118 (119):91

They continue this day according to Your ordinances, for all are Your servants.

1 Corinthians 2:10

God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

and John 15:26

When the Paraclete comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.

His argument goes something like this: If the Holy Spirit is not God, than He must be a servant of God, according to Psalm 118(119):91. When held up to 1 Corinthians 2:10 and John 15:26, however, the Holy Spirit must be God, or we must think very little of God the Father. How is it that a mere servant or a mere creature can search out the deep things of God? Surely only God can do that. How is it possible for a servant or a mere creature to not only proceed from the Father, but be intimate enough with the Son to be witness to the “full expression of the Divine Majesty” (as St. Ambrose describes it)?

The only way that all three of these verses can be true is if the Holy Spirit is God.

Despite there being three different authors, three different genres, three different contexts, all three verses speak to each other. There is an internal logic that can be discerned throughout Scripture about God and His creation. Thus, if something can be stated in the Psalms about God and His creation, it must hold true in the Gospels and the Epistles and vice versa.

This is the exegetical style of the Fathers. I expect that we shall see more of it as we move forward in the treatise of St. Ambrose On the Holy Spirit.

Finding Our Own Egypt and Damascus

Tags

Christmas, Church and State, Cross, Gospel, Resurrection, St. Paul, Truth, Worship

Merry Christmas! Christ is born! Glorify Him!

I do hope everyone realizes that, in the Orthodox Christian world-view that this period — after Christmas — is when we should be celebrating Christmas, not in the days prior to Christmas. In many ways, our American culture has Christmas upside-down. We focus on the material — buying, getting and giving presents. We celebrate Christmas for months prior when we should be preparing and anticipating for the celebration. We see Christmas trees taken down the day after Christmas. We have made it politically incorrect to say ‘Merry Christmas!’ Our children are bombarded with the message that we need to “save Christmas” or find the “Christmas spirit” when the whole purpose of Christmas is to participate in the reality of God becoming a babe in cave for our salvation.

Imagine a world, for a moment, that stepped back from the material world, that fasted for 40 days prior and spent more time in prayer in preparation for a celebration that lasted a week. That is what the Orthodox Christian is supposed to do. In fact, if we didn’t have to get ready for Epiphany, I’m sure the Church would figure out a way to celebrate even longer.

We see this pattern of anticipation and celebration expressed on Sundays with the Sunday before and the Sunday after Christmas. Last Sunday we studied the genealogy of Christ — we were getting prepared for Christ taking on our humanity. Today is the Sunday after Christmas. The Gospel tells us of the Christ Child’s flight to Egypt in the face of Herod’s slaughter of the Innocents. This helps us to answer the question “Now that we have the Nativity of Christ, what are we supposed to do with it?”

In order to help us piece together this answer, the Church also gives us the words of St. Paul in his letter to the Galatians:

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. — Gal. 1:15-17

Paul, on his way to persecute Christians, gets visited by the Risen Lord and is told that he needs to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles. In response, Paul goes to Arabia and Damascus. He tells us that he doesn’t return to Jerusalem for three years.

In other words, the Church is drawing a parallel between the Christ Child and Paul and therefore between the Christ Child and us. In both cases the world hates us and reacts with violence. Imagine if Paul immediately returned to Jerusalem claiming to be Christian. He would have entered into the teeth of persecution and retribution.

The peace that the angels declare to the shepherds in the field is God’s peace, not man’s. In fact, those who seek earthly power understand and see Christianity as a major threat to their goals. We and our King stand in the way. When we claim a God who is wiling to sacrifice Himself in order to protect and save us, there exists an eternal and unchanging rule of ethics and morality that holds that everybody, no matter who they are, has value. Such an understanding gets in the way of the power-hungry from making up their own version of morality (or lack thereof) that suits their present needs. It doesn’t allow them to determine who has value and who doesn’t. This is why the Church has always been under assault and, until we see the Second Coming, it will always be under assault. This, by the way, is why we are told to say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas!”

In the face of this assault, neither the Christ Child nor the newly enlightened Paul were ready for their appointed tasks. Each had to retreat and prepare. Christ had to allow his humanity to mature. Paul had to gird himself for the trials and tribulations that awaited him on his missionary travels around the Mediterranean.

In other words, celebrate the Nativity of Christ. Glorify the Living God that was willing to be born in a cave for our salvation. Revel in the reality that God so loves His creation; but be prepared for the assault that will come. Each and every one of us will be called to be martyrs — to witness to the reality of the Christ Child, of God Incarnate, of Christ on the Cross and Christ risen from the dead. We will be forced to make choices everyday between the morality of the world and the morality of God. Everyday we will be challenged to see the value in our fellow human being the way God does when the world wants to throw them away and turn their back on them. Someday, we will be called to boldly declare that Christ is our King instead of the politicians of the moment.

This is why the Orthodox Church gives us her services and encourages us to live our lives in anticipation and celebration. It gives us an opportunity to retreat into our own Egypt and Damascus. It gives us a spiritual place to find an internal silence where we can hear God in the stillness. As Elijah learned on the mountain, God isn’t in the business and noisiness of the world outside — the wind, the earthquake or the fire. God is in the stillness. Living in the cycles of the Church gives us the tools to learn to silence that business that invades our internal life. It allows us to fill ourselves with God. It gives the means and the power to return to the world and boldly declare the Gospel with our words, with our actions and with our very lives.

Today I pray that we hold on to Christmas a little longer this year — that we take advantage and celebrate the reality of Christ born in cave for our salvation. Allow that reality find its way into our heart and our inner life so that we find the stillness where we can hear God. Let us find our own Egypt and Damascus to prepare for the tasks that lay ahead. Let us gladly pick up our cross and do His will. Amen.

Love and Basketball

Tags

Epistle, Gospel, Holy Spirit, LeBron James

I lead a Bible Study every week and the people who come like to study the Epistle and Gospel Readings for the coming Sunday. We all find this exercise to be fruitful because it helps all of us to prepare for the sermon on Sunday. In my case, it helps me tune into issues that people find interesting or important. For others, they get more out of sermons on Sunday (even if they are traveling and end up at another Church).

Recently, I have been trying to summarize our sessions as part of my preparation for Sunday and at the request of a fellow priest to help him in his own preparations. In turn, a parishioner requested that I share these summaries with a wider audience. Thus, I will endeavor to get these summaries posted here for all of those interested.

This week, the discussion focused primarily on the Epistle Reading (Galatians 5:22-26; 6:1-2):

Brethren, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us have no self-conceit, no provoking of one another, no envy of one another. Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Look to yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Of import is the fact that this isn’t the regularly scheduled Epistle for the 10th Sunday of Luke. Rather, it is the reading for St. Savas the Sanctified who was a monastic in Palestine and who defended Orthodoxy at the council of Chalcedon. In other words, the Church is holding up St. Savas as someone who embodies living by the Spirit.

Though it is not part of Sunday’s reading, Galatians 5:16-21 helps us contrast the fruits of the Spirit with the works of the flesh:

Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Note how the ruler of the synagogue from Sunday’s Gospel Reading (Luke 13:10-17) embodies the works of the flesh. When angered by Christ’s healing of the woman crippled by a spirit of disease for eighteen years because it was the Sabbath, the ruler makes an idol out of the Law, demonstrates jealousy and strife, and causes dissension, faction and quarrels. He forgets that the primary purpose of the Law is the revelation of God — who is merciful (as demonstrated by Christ’s healing). In forgetting this, the ruler places the Law above the needs of human beings (again, running counter to God, who provides us the Law for our benefit).

For a contemporary example of works of the flesh, we meditated on the reports coming out this week about the NBA basketball star, LeBron James. It seems that LeBron is selfish to the point of being toxic. His selfishness has lead to strife within his team and the Miami Heat has had a lackluster beginning to their season, despite having one of the most talented rosters in all of basketball. Please note that LeBron James has never won an NBA championship. The best way for him to do so would be to start living by the Spirit. His selfishness may appear to be success, but it is harming everyone around him. If he were willing to sacrifice for others — especially his team — the Miami Heat would be infinitely better than it is right now.

A Royal Wedding

Tags

Christmas, Gospel, Holy Spirit, Old Testament, Psalms, St. Gregory Palamas, Theotokos, Worship

As I noted on Saturday, I pay attention when a Father of the Church quotes the Old Testament. So, when St. Gregory Palamas highlights Psalm 45:2 in his Homily Fifty-Eight on the Saving Nativity According to the Flesh of Our Lord and God and Savior, I went and re-read Psalm 45. Once again, Palamas demonstrates a level of intimacy with Scripture that I can only hope to aspire to.

On its surface, Psalm 45 is about a royal wedding. As St. Gregory points out, it praises the beauty of the king. Interestingly, most (if not all) English translations disagree with his reading of the verse. Whereas Palamas insists that the language is not comparative (He is fair in beauty beside the sons of men), these translations are:

You are the most excellent of men and your lips have been anointed with grace, since God has blessed you forever. (NIV)

Of all men you are the most handsome, gracefulness is a dew upon your lips, for God has blessed you for ever. (NJB)

You are fairer than the sons of men; Grace is poured upon Your lips; Therefore God has blessed You forever. (NKJ)

You are the most handsome of men; grace is poured upon your lips; therefore God has blessed you forever. (NRS)

It is useful to look at the Septuagint Greek translation (noted as LXX), the translation St. Gregory most likely knew and used.

ὡραῖος κάλλει παρὰ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων

The key word here is παρὰ, which can be translated as “from (the side of)” in the genitive case which implies a comparison. This is how all English translations have come about. Palamas, however, uses παρὰ in the dative, where it means “beside.” St. Gregory isn’t playing a linguistic trick, nor are the various English translators wrong. Both are correct, depending on what perspective the Psalm is read. It demonstrates how the Holy Spirit uses language — in the same way Christ uses parables:

He said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but to others I speak in parables, so that ‘looking they may not perceive, and listening they may not understand.’ — Luke 8:10

As I noted earlier, Psalm 45 is about a royal wedding; however, the Church understands it to be a messianic Psalm with images of Christ as the bridegroom and the Church as the bride. St. Gregory understands Psalm 45:2 from this perspective, so he sees παρὰ in the dative, not the genitive.

Key to understanding this perspective is verse 6, where the king is called God:

Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever. Your royal scepter is a scepter of equity.

In verse 7, we get a glimpse of a Trinitarian understanding of God:

Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.

The first God in this verse refers to the king — the Son — and the second God — the God of the king — refers to the Father.

In other words, St. Gregory quotes this Psalm, not out of happenstance, but because it specifically speaks to the Nativity. It helps us understand the reality of Christ — He is King, He is the Son of God, He is God and through His Incarnation He weds Himself to His Church. Not only that, Psalm 45 is the source of these verses which the Church strongly associates with the Theotokos:

Hear, O daughter, consider and incline your ear; forget your people and your father’s house, and the king will desire your beauty. — Psalm 45:10-11

This is used as a Prokeimena (the verse chanted prior to an Epistle or Gospel reading) on feasts for the Theotokos.

Again, St. Gregory has the Nativity in mind when he seemingly refers to Psalm 45 in passing. It not only helps us understand the person of Christ, but it calls to mind His mother through whom He chose to take on flesh — the very event Palamas is preaching about.

This just goes to show how important the Old Testament is. In fact, Fr. Eugen Pentiuc, professor of the Old Testament and Hebrew at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, insists that we know more about Christ from the Old Testament than we do from the New. Seeing Psalm 45 as St. Gregory does allows us a glimpse of just how true this is.

Sacrifice

Tags

Armor of God, Cross, Gospel, Resurrection, Sacrifice, Worship

I have to make a confession. As someone who grew up playing with toy soldiers and fascinated with history (especially ancient and medieval military history), I adore the metaphor St. Paul uses in today’s Epistle Reading:

Brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand, therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace; besides all these, taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. — Ephesians 6:10-17

Metaphors, of course, invite us to apply them to our own lives. As 21st century Americans, however (being several centuries removed from soldiers using armor, shield and sword), this is not an easy a task as one might at first think. Fortunately, today’s Gospel gives us a clue. Christ tells the rich man:

Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me. — Luke 18:22

Note the similarity this has to Christ’s more universal command:

If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. — Matthew 16:24

This gives us something to grab onto. Look at this imagery used in the Kontakion of the Elevation of the Cross:

for an ally, Lord, may they have You, peace as their armor, the trophy invincible.

Look also at the imagery from the Ikos of the Elevation of the Cross:

This very Cross of the Lord, then, let us all surely hold as our boast. For this wood is our salvation, the shield of peace, the trophy invincible.

Using this imagery we can then understand that the armor of God, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit are all the Cross. This is our key to applying the metaphor to our own lives. In order to put on the armor of God, we must deny ourselves, pickup our Cross and follow Christ. In a word: sacrifice.

This is our path, our armor, our protection and our call:

Lord, God Almighty, You alone are holy. You accept a sacrifice of praise from those who call upon You with their whole heart. Receive also the prayer of us sinners and let it reach Your holy altar. Enable us to bring before You gifts and spiritual sacrifices for our sins and for the transgressions of the people. Make us worthy to find grace in Your presence so that our sacrifice may be pleasing to You and that Your good and gracious Spirit may abide with us, with the gifts here presented, and with all Your people. — Prayer of the Proskomide from the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom

As members of the royal priesthood, we make sacrifice not just for ourselves but everyone. Indeed, we implore God:

Remember also, Lord, those whom each of us calls to mind and all your people. — Anaphora from the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom

We are called today to to put on the armor of God through sacrifice — by freely giving of our time, our treasure and our talents. We are called to bring these forth before the altar of God for our salvation and the salvation of the people. This sounds counter-intuitive. Our natural instinct is to hold on to what we have for our own protection. This is especially tempting in times of strife and we certainly are going through a period of economic strife. Remember, though, we are talking about the Cross.

God so loved the world that He sent us His Only-Begotten Son who willingly sacrificed Himself upon the Cross so that we might taste the Resurrection. The font of mercy and power that is the Cross is endless. When we chose the Cross, when we choose to freely sacrifice our time, treasure and talents (just as Christ freely went to the Cross) we not only get to participate in Christ’s sacrifice, we get to participate in His Resurrection.

Remember Christ’s own words to us today:

What is impossible with men is possible with God — Luke 18:27

Miracles will happen. Things you thought impossible will become possible. The love of God the Father will manifest in your life and that sacrifice will suddenly become resurrection. Amen.

A Note on Methodology

Tags

Christmas, Gospel, Holy Spirit, prayer, Psalms, saints, St. Gregory Palamas, Worship

It occurs to me that it would be useful to map out and explain how I am going to go about writing a series of blog posts on one homily. To begin, let me quote one of the prayers said by the priest during Orthros when the Exapsalmos (the Six Psalms of Matins: 3, 38, 63, 88, 103 and 143) are being read:

God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, having raised us up from our beds and brought us together at the hour of prayer, give us grace as we open our lips and accept the best thanks we can offer. And teach us Your statutes, for we know not how to pray fittingly unless You, Lord, through Your Holy Spirit, lead us.

There is no way that I can endeavor to write this blog sans the Holy Spirit. Indeed, I can go further and say that we cannot comprehend the message of the Gospel sans the Holy Spirit. Please note the priest’s prayer before the Gospel reading in the liturgy (and, yes, this is the inspiration for the name of this blog):

Shine within our hearts, loving Master, the pure light of Your divine knowledge and open the eyes of our minds that we may comprehend the message of Your Gospel. Instill in us also reverence for Your blessed commandments, so that having conquered all sinful desires, we may pursue a spiritual life, thinking and doing all those things that are pleasing to You. For You, Christ our God, are the light of our souls and bodies, and to You we give glory together with Your Father who is without beginning and Your all holy, good, and life giving Spirit, now and forever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Thus, whenever I read scripture, I look to those words, phrases, verses or concepts that jump out at me. By “jump out” I mean things that inspire me, bother me, confuse me, anger me or otherwise get my attention in some way or fashion. I acknowledge the work of the Holy Spirit in this — He is trying to get my attention. I am supposed to stay with this word, phrase, verse or concept and dig deeper — either for my own salvation or for those around me.

This methodology holds true when reading the Fathers of the Church. These great saints were wrestling with revelation and their words are a participation in the Holy Spirit. Through them and the writings that they have handed down to us, we, too, can see and participate in the work of the Holy Spirit.

I will be working with the annotated Mount Thabor edition of St. Gregory Palamas’ Homily Fifty-Eight on the Saving Nativity According to the Flesh of Our Lord and God and Savior. It is organized into sixteen numbered paragraphs. I will tackle each paragraph in succession, paying attention to those words, phrases and concepts that jump out — those things that the Holy Spirit is pointing out to me — and I will then proceed to dig deeper.

The Feast of St. Elias (Elijah)

Tags

Cross, Elijah, Gospel, Holy Spirit, Old Testament, prayer, Science, St. Elias, stranger, Worship

On July 20, my mother was chrismated at St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church and became an Orthodox Christian. I flew out to take part and was asked to deliver the sermon. The one gift that my mom wanted from me is to post that sermon here on my blog. What follows is an attempt to reiterate that sermon as best as I am able:

When my mom decided to take on St. Elias (Elijah) as her patron saint and that she would be chrismated on the prophet’s feast, I was thrilled for many reasons. One of which being that Elijah is not only one of my favorite prophets and one of my favorite figures in the OT, but he is one of my favorites in all of Scripture. Of all of the stories in the bible that I go to to find inspiration, many of them involve Elijah.

One of the reasons is that his life, in particular, is so cinematic and visually dramatic. If Hollywood would ever get smart enough to realize that there is an entire audience out here in fly-over country that would flock to go see movies that speak to our Christian values, they could, with the technology available to them today, make a fabulous movie about Elijah.

Take the battle royale between Elijah and the priests of Baal. He challenges them to call on their god to set afire the burnt offering of a bull. They cry out, the cut themselves with swords, and poke themselves with lances until they are covered with blood. Of course, nothing happens. Then it is Eijah’s turn:

At the time of the offering of the oblation, the prophet Elijah came near and said, “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your bidding. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so that this people may know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and even licked up the water that was in the trench — 1 Kings 18:36-38

A personal favorite that I go to all the time in my personal prayer life is when God tells Elijah to go to the mountain because God is about to pass by:

Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. — 1 Kings 19:11-12

And it was in this stillness that Elijah encounters God.

Elijah’s story is full of these big, dramatic, cinematic miracles of God. We see this reflected in the services of Church. During Vespers, the OT readings not only recount the two stories above, but also the stories of Elijah raising the widow’s son from the dead and his ascension into heaven on a flaming chariot. We see these stories referred to in the hymns of Orthros. However, when we get to the Divine Liturgy, both the Epistle and Gospel readings are silent about these big, dramatic and cinematic miracles. Instead, in the Epistle reading St. James implores us to pray for one another, using Elijah as an example of the power of prayer:

Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. — James 5:17

In the Gospel reading Christ then tells us that:

there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. — Luke 4:25-26

In short, the two things that the Church highlights from all the stories we have about Elijah, are prayer and ministering to strangers. One might be tempted to consider this a bit of a let down. Prayer and ministering to strangers surely are not as dramatic or fantastic as calling a consuming fire from heaven; however, we need to see prayer and ministering to strangers in context of the Divine Liturgy.

Speaking about the faith of all the great OT figures and the miracles wrought through that faith, St. Paul tells us:

Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect. — Hebrews 11:39-40

Despite the fire from heaven, the resurrection of the widow’s son, and the fiery chariot that shuttles him up into heaven, Elijah did not have Emmanuel — “God with Us,” God Incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ. He was not the Temple of God, sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit. He was not able to gather with the people of God to call upon the Holy Spirit to descend upon the gifts in order to partake of the very Body and Blood of our Lord, God and Savior.

In this context, prayer and ministering to strangers — activities we can participate in every day — take on a whole new dimension. In this context we begin to see that we get to participate in a miracle far greater than anything worked through Elijah in his lifetime. Through prayer, we humble ourselves — Lord Jesus Christ have mercy upon me the sinner — and in so doing we soften our hearts. We are able to get out of the way, allow the Holy Spirit to work through us. We are able to participate in one of the greatest miracles of all time — through the Holy Spirit we are able to love as God loves. We are able to love with a divine love.

In the ancient world, when a disease hit a metropolitan area, people had two choices. If they were rich enough, they would flee the city and wait out the epidemic in their country villas. When the disease had run its course, they would return to the city and continue to with their urban lives. If they were not rich enough to flee, they holed themselves up and hoped that they would not become infected because it usually meant death.

Christianity offered a third option. The early Church would visit the sick and bring food, water and prayer. Miracles began to happen — people started to survive epidemics whereas before, they died. Our modern, cynical and scientific minds might attribute this to the fact that by bringing food and water to the sick, Christians were eliminating the most likely cause of death. Many of the diseases that afflicted the ancient world were not deadly in and of themselves. Rather, people more likely died of dehydration and starvation. This cynical point of view, however, misses the point.

Through prayer, the Church was moved by divine love to minister to strangers. They knew that it didn’t matter whether these strangers were pagan or Christian, Greek or Jew, male or female, rich or poor, young or old — because Christ is all in all. He took on all our humanity. Out of divine love, He went to the Cross for all of us. The real miracle in this story is the way God’s love was made manifest in Christians and shown to the world. With this divine love, Christianity went on to conquer the Roman Empire.

We see the fruits of this same miracle today. I don’t know how many remember me, but this is not the first time I have been at St. Spyridon. Thus, when my mom began to have even an iota of interest in Orthodoxy, I suggested that she go to St. Spyridon — because I knew of you. I sent you a stranger and because of your love, today my mom no longer stands here as a stranger, but as a child of God who has finally come home.

So today I pray that God grant us the strength and the wisdom to pray. That our hearts will soften. That we find the humility to get out of the way and allow the Holy Spirit to move us to minister to strangers. That His love is manifest in us so that all of God’s children come home. Amen.

The Nativity of St. John the Baptist

Tags

Conception, Gospel, Holy Spirit, St. John the Baptist, Theotokos, Zacharias

On this, the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, we see his father Zacharias punished for asking a question of Gabriel that sounds very similar to the question the Virgin Mary asks the Archangel when he visits her to announce that she will give birth to the Christ.

Zacharias said to the angel, “How will I know that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years.” (Luke 1:18)

Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34 )

Yet, Mary is told she is full of grace, while St.John’s father is made mute. It is helpful to look at Zacharias’ question in Greek:

Κατὰ τί γνώσομαι τοῦτο;

A more literal translation would be:

According to what will I know this? or By what will I know this?

Zacharias is testing God by asking for a sign, despite the fact that the Archangel Gabriel is standing before him inside the Temple. Note Gabriel’s reaction:

The angel replied, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur.” (Luke 1:19-20)

Zacharias doubts.

Mary, on the other hand, does not ask for a proof or a sign, rather she accepts the reality of what God will do. Her question is a clarification. She knows that all of the other miraculous births throughout Scripture (Sarah in Gn 16:1, Rebekah in Gn 25:21, Rachel in Gn 29:31 and Hannah in 1Sam/1Ki 1:2) and even her own birth came about from barren women who had relationships with their husbands. She is a virgin. Note Gabriel’s response:

The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. (Luke 1:35)

His answer is one of clarification — the Holy Spirit is the mechanism by which this miracle will happen. Mary never once questions whether or not that miracle can or will happen, as does Zacharias.

Thus, in our own lives, when we ask things of God we should strive to be like Mary and not like Zacharias. We should not test God by asking for proofs and signs. We should have Mary’s faith that God will do exactly what is needed for our salvation, knowing that God is willing to even overturn the laws of nature in order to save us:

You were known to be a Mother passing nature, O Theotokos, and still remained a Virgin in a way passing speech and thought. And no language is capable of explaining the wonder of your childbirth. O pure Maid, your conception was paradoxical, hence the manner of your pregnancy is also incomprehensible. For whenever God so wills, nature’s order is overridden. Therefore, acknowledging you as the Mother of God, to you we all intently pray: Intercede for the salvation of our souls. — Doxastikon in Grave Mode from Saturday night Vespers

Amen.

Meditation on St. Constantine

Tags

Church and State, Cross, Gospel, Psalms, St. Constantine, Worship

Those of us who have read Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code and/or seen the movie based upon his book know that St. Constantine is a controversial figure. There are a great many accusations made about Constantine and all one has to do is do a search on YouTube for “Constantine Da Vinci” to get a taste. To name just a few:

• He became Christian for political reasons and corrupted the Church.
• He was a pagan who worshipped the sun and had Christmas moved to December 25th.
• He took over the Church and had Jesus declared a God at the First Ecumenical Council.
• He became a Christian because no pagan religion would forgive him for murdering members of his own family.
• He edited the Bible and had books that didn’t call Jesus God removed.

I could go on. All of these have been used by secularists, opponents of the Church and even Protestants. Their purpose is to make a straw man out of Constantine. It allows them to dismiss the Church as a whole, in the case of secularists and other opponents of the Church, or the 1200 years of Church history between Constantine becoming the first Christian Emperor of Rome and the Protestant Reformation, in the case of some Protestants. What always seems to be missing from these accusations about Constantine is the voice of the Church. To that end, I’d like to take a look at the liturgy that the Orthodox Church celebrates on May 21, the Feast of Sts. Constantine and Helen.

The Church holds up three figures which it uses as metaphors for Constantine: King David, the Apostle Paul, and the person of the bishop.

King David

In the hymns surrounding the feast, the Church invokes the name of King David several times. For example, the First Kathisma from Matins:

In your ways, you were another David; you received the gift from Heaven, in the oil of the Kingdom upon your head. The Word transcended in essence, the Lord of all, anointed you with the Spirit, O glorious one, and you received the royal scepter, wise Constantine, who asks great mercy may be granted to us.

This equation is repeated with the Prokeimenon of the Matins Gospel as well as the Alleluia verses sung between the Epistle and Gospel readings during Liturgy:

I have raised up one chosen out of My people. I have found David my servant, with my holy oil have I anointed him (Acts 13:22; Psalm 89:20).

This calls attention to how St. Constantine and St. David are similar. Obviously, both are kings; but more importantly, both are kings chosen out of God’s people — Israel and the Church. Something that many of the videos on YouTube fail to mention is that Constantine’s mother, St. Helen, was a very devout Christian. Thus, he was raised in context of the Church. Through her, Christ was always present in the life of Constantine. Although he was only baptized at the end of his life, he was, in fact, baptized. He was, in fact, the first Christian Emperor of Rome.

David chose Jerusalem as his capital. He placed the Ark of the Covenant there, establishing Jerusalem as a Holy City. Constantine moved the capitol of the Roman Empire from Rome, with all of its pagan temples, to Constantinople, or as Constantine called it “New Rome.” He built it as a new, Christian city wherein he built churches instead of temples. This new city established a Christian Empire that lasted a thousand years.

Finally, and I would say most importantly, the Church declares that Constantine was given “David’s meekness and gentleness” in the Stichera of the Vespers. Constantine murdered his own wife and son. What many of us forget is that King David is also a murderer — he sent Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba, to die in a suicide mission in order to cover up his own adultery with her. The result of this affair was a son who died in infancy. In response, David wrote Psalm 50(51), which begins with these verses:

Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight — That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge (Psalm 51:1-4)

Constantine, in order to stay in good standing with the Church and to be baptized, would have had to do the same. Christ came to save all of us, even murderers and adulterers.

St. Paul

The Apolytikion of Sts. Constantine and Helen states:

Your Apostle among the Rulers, St. Constantine, who once beheld in the sky the image of Your Cross, and who like Paul received his calling not from man, once entrusted the Ruling City into Your hand. We entreat You to restore it in peace forever, at the intercession of the Theotokos, O Lord who loves humanity.

This comparison is emphasized by the Epistle Reading, Paul’s account of his encounter with the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus in Acts 26:1-2; 12-20:

In those days, King Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense: “I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining round me and those who journeyed with me. And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It hurts you to kick against the goads.’ And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you to serve and bear witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from the people and from the Gentiles-to whom I send you to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ “Wherefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those at Damascus, then at Jerusalem and throughout all the country of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God and perform deeds worthy of their repentance.”

The Church is drawing comparisons between Paul’s conversion moment and Constantine’s. Prior to the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, where Constantine defeated his rival Maxentius in October of 312, Constantine saw a light in the sky in the form of a cross and the words “By this you shall conquer.” That night Christ came to him in a dream. Upon waking, he immediately made a standard of the cross inscribed with the name of Jesus Christ. His victory at the battle secured his position as the Emperor of the West. By 324 he was the sole monarch of the whole Roman Empire.

Paul persecuted the Church. So did the Roman Empire. Paul converted to Christianity and then became one of the Church’s greatest Apostles, spreading the Gospel all over the Mediterranean. Constantine ended the persecution of Christians by the Empire and made it possible for every Christian, in every place that Paul preached and beyond, to practice their faith openly without fear of harassment.

The Bishop

One of the more intriguing, and subtle, aspects of the feast of Sts. Constantine and Helen is the Gospel reading. The Orthodox Church has specific readings, both for the Epistle and the Gospel, for various feasts. The Epistle Reading for Sts. Constantine and Helen is an example; however, not all saints have specific readings. In these cases, the Church has readings for classifications of saints. For example, Mark 5:24-34 — the woman with a flow of blood that is healed by touching Christ’s garment — is read on the feast of a woman martyr. The Gospel reading for Sts. Constantine and Helen (John 10:1-9) is one of these readings; however, it comes from a surprising source — it is the Gospel reading for bishops.

In the Orthodox understanding, the person of the bishop presents the Church Universal to his people. He is the means by which Orthodox Christians are in communion with the rest of the Church. The bishop also presents his people to the rest of the Church, through other bishops. For example, the Metropolitan of Chicago is in communion with the Metropolitan of Denver. Those Orthodox Christians living in the Metropolis of Chicago are in communion with the Metropolitan of Denver through their bishop, and through the Metropolitan of Denver they are, in turn, in communion with all of the Orthodox Christians in the Metropolis of Denver and vice versa. Using the same model, the Metropolitan of Chicago is not in communion with the Catholic Bishop of Peoria. Thus, neither are the Orthodox Christians in the Metropolis of Chicago. In turn, they are also not in communion with the Catholics in the Diocese of Peoria.

At the same time, a bishop cannot function without any people. This is expressed when Orthodox clergy are ordained. The deacon, priest or bishop is presented to the people, who respond with the exclamation, “Axios!” which means “He is worthy!” It is an expression by the people that they accept this man as their deacon, priest or bishop.

St. Constantine is like a bishop because, in his person, he presented the Church Universal to the entire world as the first Christian Emperor of Rome. He radically changed the way the world saw the Church. Through him, the whole of the Empire moved towards the Church and communion. At the same time, he was beloved. Very shortly after his death, he was recognized by the people as a Saint of God.

One must also not forget that the First Ecumenical Council was convened by Constantine. This event saw bishops from around the world gather at Nicaea and help formulate the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed which Orthodox Christians still recite today at every Divine Liturgy.

Conclusion

All too often, figures within Church history are taken out of context in order to justify various theories about Christianity, most of which are aimed at discrediting the Church. These men and women are taken out of context, because when seen within the context of their own time and within the Church, these theories very quickly fall apart. This can be demonstrated with St. Constantine. The picture painted by the Church is of a very human leader — he was flawed as we all are; however, with Christ he overcame those flaws and established an empire where Christianity could finally thrive and give voice to the unity found in Jesus Christ.

If there is one thing we walk away with from this meditation, I hope it is the image of the people crying “Axios!” One thing many of Constantine’s detractors fail to mention is the average person on the street. The people are as important to the Church as Her bishops. We know from the Fathers and other sources that the city of Constantinople during the 4th century was a place where theology was discussed by everyone in every venue. One could hardly buy anything at the market without having to declare a position on the person of Jesus Christ. Throughout Church history, the people have played an important role in rejecting both councils and teachings of the hierarchy that they felt did not represent what was handed down to them by the Apostles. Had Constantine fit the cynical portrayal popular on YouTube, the people would never have accepted him as a saint, let alone the popular saint he still remains to be to this day.