Choice

Tags

America, Holy Spirit, St. Ambrose, St. Athanasius

Anyone who has studied the history of the Orthodox Church might be surprised by the precision of language used in dogma. For example, many of the theological arguments during the fourth century were about the word ὁμοούσιος (homoousios — of one essence) as it was used in the Nicene Creed. St. Athanasius the Great was exiled seven times because he insisted on its use. To the modern American mind, this might seem excessive, if not ridiculous. [Indeed, we live in times where language seems to be purposely imprecise. Try nailing down a definition of social justice, for example.]

This precision wasn’t necessarily what the Orthodox Church wanted to do, but it became necessary because various heretical views forced such precision. St. Athanasius did not want to use ὁμοούσιος in the Nicene Creed because it is not found in Scripture; however, the language of Scripture allowed two people who had very different understandings of who Jesus Christ is to say the Creed and appear to be of one mind when they clearly were not.

We get a glimpse of these battles over language in the eighth chapter of the second book of St. Ambrose’s treatise On the Holy Spirit:

But what wonder is it if foolish men question about words, when they do so even about syllables? For some think that a distinction should be made and that God should be praised in the Spirit, but not with the Spirit, and consider that the greatness of the Godhead is to be estimated from one syllable or some custom, arguing that if they consider that God should be glorified in the Spirit, they point to some office of the Holy Spirit, but that if they say that God receives glory or power with the Spirit, they seem to imply some association and communion of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

In the end, though, this precision of language is an excellent thing. By providing clear-cut choices, the Orthodox Church defends and maintains human freedom. If we know precisely what is and isn’t the Orthodox Church’s understanding of Jesus Christ, then we are free to accept or reject that understanding.

To give a counter-illustration, let us take the aforementioned phrase social justice. Ask ten different people what they think social justice means, it is very likely that ten different definitions will emerge. If we do not know precisely what social justice means, then how can we know whether or not we can support or oppose it? When asked if I support social justice, I am always having to answer, “I don’t know, what do you mean by social justice?” If we don’t have a precise definition of what it is, our freedom of choice is denied because there is nothing to choose from.

Ultimately, St. Athanasius won the argument over the use of ὁμοούσιος precisely because it helped people understand whether or not they held to the faith of the Orthodox Church — it allowed them to choose.

Wind

Tags

Holy Spirit, Old Testament, St. Ambrose

I pray that this post finds everyone happy, healthy and blessed within the afterglow of celebrating the Nativity of our Lord, God and Savior. As I promised you and myself, I will continue to make my way through all three books of On the Holy Spirit by St. Ambrose (though at a much more leisurely pace). In case you misplaced it, here is the link to all the works of St. Ambrose and here is a link to the chapter I am currently meditating on.

After establishing in the first five chapters of the second book that various titles given to the Father and the Son in Scripture are also given to the Holy Spirit, in chapter six St. Ambrose moves on to tackle one of the proof texts for those who claim that the Holy Spirit is merely a creature and not God — Amos 4:13.

Behold, I am He that establish the thunders, and create the wind, and declare unto man his Christ, that make light and mist, and ascend upon high places, the Lord God Almighty is His Name.

In English translation, this verse does not appear to have anything to do with the Holy Spirit. The problem arises in Greek and Latin where the words for spirit (πνεῦμα and spiritus) can also mean wind. Thus, Amos 4:13 appears to say that the Spirit (wind) is created.

St. Ambrose deals with this by first pointing out that in context (where thunder is listed before wind), this verse is obviously referring to wind and not spirit. He then does this wonderful bit of reasoning, where he takes his opponents’ argument to its logical conclusion:

And so, as to that which the prophet declared as it were of the daily working of God in the thunder and the creation of the wind, it would be impious to understand any such thing of the Holy Spirit, Whom the ungodly themselves cannot deny to exist from before the world. Whence with pious asseveration we testify that He always exists, and abides ever. For neither can He Who before the world was moving upon the waters begin to be visible after the world’s creation; or else it would be allowable to suppose that there are many Holy Spirits, Who come into being by as it were a daily production. Far be it from any one to pollute himself with such impiety as to say that the Holy Spirit is frequently or ever created. For I do not understand why He should be frequently created; unless perchance they believe that He dies frequently and so is frequently created. But how can the Spirit of life die? If, then, He cannot die, there is no reason why He should be often created.

If the Holy Spirit is the wind, as those who use Amos 4:13 as a proof text for the creation of the Spirit argue, then the Holy Spirit must die, because the wind dies. How can this be if He is called Life?

It is stuff like this that makes me firmly believe that the Fathers of the Church could argue circles around the opponents of Christianity today. The most educated and erudite philosophers, politicians and cultural elite cannot hold a candle to these guys. Most of our elite argue to a narrative that has little or nothing to do with reality — most, if not everything, is geared to what looks good on TV. In biblical terms, those who argue this way are eisegetes— they read into reality and what they want to see, not what is. St. Ambrose and his contemporaries are consummate exegetes — they are able to see what is actually in Scripture and reality, not what they wish to see.

One of my laments about living in the 21st century is that while we understand ourselves to be one of the most educated generations in history (we fool ourselves by the level of technology we use on a daily basis), if we are honest, our ability to think and argue clearly pales in comparison to the great Fathers of the Church. Through the prayers of St. Ambrose, may we see even a fraction of their ability in this day and age. Amen.

Creator

Tags

Christmas, St. Ambrose, Trinity

Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

One thing I would like to emphasize on this Great and Holy Feast is a title that St. Ambrose shows is attributed to all three persons of the Trinity (from the fifth chapter of the second book of his treatise On the Holy Spirit:

But who can doubt that the Holy Spirit gives life to all things; since both He, as the Father and the Son, is the Creator of all things; and the Almighty Father is understood to have done nothing without the Holy Spirit; and since also in the beginning of the creation the Spirit moved upon the water.

Thus, our Creator becomes incarnate today, as we sing in the Stichera of Vespers for the Nativity:

Today the Virgin gives birth to the Creator of all. Eden offers a cave, and a star reveals Christ, the Sun, unto those in darkness. The Magi, enlightened by faith, worshipped with gifts; and shepherds beheld the wonder, while Angels sang praises, saying: Glory to God in the highest.

What, then, shall we offer to our Creator who today is willingly seen as a babe born in a cave?

Life

Tags

Ascension, Christmas, Cross, Holy Spirit, Resurrection, St. Ambrose, Trinity, Worship

Yesterday, I spent time meditating on the title Life as it pertains to Christ the Tree of Life; however, St. Ambrose highlights the title in order to show how it applies to the Holy Spirit. In chapter three of the second book of his treatise On the Holy Spirit he observes:

So, then, the world had not eternal life, because it had not received the Spirit; for where the Spirit is, there is eternal life

Again, because today we are on the Eve of Christmas, let me try to bring this idea to bear upon the Nativity. Yesterday, I noted how the hymnody equated the Incarnation with salvation due to the reality of God becoming a human being and therefore shattering that which separates us from God, as we sing in the Stichera of Vespers for the Nativity:

Come, let us rejoice in the Lord as we declare this present mystery. The middle wall of partition is broken asunder; the flaming sword is turned back, the Cherubim withdraw from the Tree of Life, and I partake of the Paradise of Delight, whence I was cast out before through disobedience.

However, the Tree of Life is also the Cross, therefore more is yet to be done. Note all of the things accomplished by Christ in this prayer from the Anaphora of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom:

Remembering, therefore, this command of the Savior, and all that came to pass for our sake, the cross, the tomb, the resurrection on the third day, the ascension into heaven, the enthronement at the right hand of the Father, and the second, glorious coming.

All of this is necessary in order for what happens next in the Divine Liturgy:

Once again we offer to You this spiritual worship without the shedding of blood, and we ask, pray, and entreat You: send down Your Holy Spirit upon us and upon these gifts here presented.

And make this bread the precious Body of Your Christ.

And that which is in this cup the precious Blood of Your Christ.

Changing them by Your Holy Spirit.

In other words, our access to Christ, the Tree of Life, is through the descent of the Holy Spirit. Without that descent, there is no Incarnaton, no cross, no tomb, no resurrection, no ascension, no enthronement and no second coming. And without any of these, that descent is not accomplished in us.

Remember this the next time we pray Psalm 50(51):

Do not cast me out of your presence: do not take your Holy Spirit from me.

Amen.

Tree

Tags

Christmas, Cross, Holy Spirit, St. Ambrose, Worship

In chapter three of the second book of his treatise On the Holy Spirit, St. Ambrose continues to establish that titles given to the Father and/or the Son are also given to the Holy Spirit:

Let them say, then, wherein they think that there is an unlikeness in the divine operation. Since as to know the Father and the Son is life, as the Lord Himself declared, saying: ‘This is life eternal to know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent’ (John 17:3), so, too, to know the Holy Spirit is life. For the Lord said: ‘If ye love Me, keep My commandments, and I will ask the Father and He shall give you another Paraclete, that He may abide with you for ever, even the Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him, but ye know Him, for He is with you, and in you’ (John 17:14,15).

Since we are on the verge of celebrating Christmas and I have spent very little time meditating upon the Nativity, let me try to tie this title Life to the birth of our Lord, God and Savior. During the Vespers of the Nativity, Orthodox Christians sing this Troparion (hymn) of the Prophacies antiphonally between OT readings:

You have dawned from a Virgin, O Christ, You noetic Sun of Righteousness. And a star pointed to You, the Uncontainable, contained within a cave. You have led the Magi to worship You, together with them we magnify You: O Giver of Life, glory be to You.

Thus, the eternal life that we may obtain through our knowledge of God and Jesus Christ is accomplished through the Son becoming a human being. This is further described in the Stichera of Vespers:

Come, let us rejoice in the Lord as we declare this present mystery. The middle wall of partition is broken asunder; the flaming sword is turned back, the Cherubim withdraw from the Tree of Life, and I partake of the Paradise of Delight, whence I was cast out before through disobedience.

Christ Himself, therefore, is called the Tree of Life. Eternal life is granted by our partaking of the Tree once guarded by the Cherubim with their flaming swords (Gen. 3:24). This phrase, however, has many layers in the same way the Orthodox Christian’s answer to the question, “Are you saved?” has many layers:

I am already saved (Rom. 8:24, Eph. 2:5–8), I’m also being saved (1 Cor. 1:18, 2 Cor. 2:15, Phil. 2:12), and I have the hope that I will be saved (Rom. 5:9–10, 1 Cor. 3:12–15).

We partake of Christ the Tree of life because He has taken on our humanity. We also partake of Christ the Tree of Life every time we take communion. In the hymnody of the Orthodox Church the Tree of Life is equated with the Cross. This is done as we pray during the Ninth Hour of the Royal Hours of Christmas:

Master, Lord Jesus Christ, our God, who have long endured our transgressions, and brought us to this hour in which hanging on the life-giving tree you showed the good Thief the way into Paradise and destroyed death by death, have mercy also on us sinners and your unworthy servants.

Thus, though we have partaken of the Tree of Life through the Nativity and we are partaking of the Tree of Life through communion, ultimately we will partake by being crucified with the Tree of Life. Amen.

Counsel

Tags

Christmas, Holy Spirit, St. Ambrose, Trinity

The main means by which St. Ambrose sets about demonstrating the divinity of the Holy Spirit in the first several chapters of the second book of his treatise On the Holy Spirit is to show how the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are one. To do this, he shows that titles given to the Father and/or the Son are also given to the Holy Spirit. This from chapter two:

For the Spirit Himself is Power, as you read: ‘The Spirit of Counsel and of Power (or might)’ (Isa. 11:2). And as the Son is the Angel of great counsel, so, too, is the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Counsel, that you may know that the Counsel of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is One.

One of the connotations of the Greek word βουλή (counsel) is the process or deliberation by which a decision is made or a problem is resolved. In terms of a royal court, this process would include a small, trusted inner group of counsellors that the king would turn to in order to get advice.

Thus, the implication of giving the title Counsel to God is that He wishes us to be part of that inner group — part of that process. It is not His will to rule from on high and arbitrarily judge His creation. Rather, He willingly descends into the mire and muck that is the fallen world in order to raise us up into that heavenly court. As we sing in the Kontakion of the Forefeast of Christmas:

On this day the Virgin comes to a cave to give birth to God the Word ineffable, Who was before all the ages. Dance for joy, O earth, on hearing the gladsome tidings; with the Angels and the shepherds now glorify Him Who is willing to be gazed on as a young Child Who before the ages is God.

How awesome is the mystery that God so loves us — that God so desires us to be part of his inner and trusted circle — that He would send us His Son to become a babe.

Power

Tags

Holy Spirit, Samson, St. Ambrose, temptation, Trinity

In the first chapter of the second book of his treatise On the Holy Spirit, St. Ambrose continues his discussion of Samson’s strength. Since the source of this power is the Holy Spirit, St. Ambrose begins to compare how the word power is used in context of the Trinity:

Of the Son you have read that Christ is ‘the Power of God and the Wisdom of God’ (1 Cor. 1:24). We read, too, that the Father is Power, as it is written: ‘Ye shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power of God’ (Matt. 26:64). He certainly named the Father Power, at Whose right hand the Son sits, as you read: ‘The Lord said unto My Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand’ (Ps. 110 [109]:1). And the Lord Himself named the Holy Spirit Power, when He said: ‘Ye shall receive Power when the Holy Spirit cometh upon you’ (Acts 1:8).

This adds another layer of meaning to the point I made yesterday. The same power that descended upon the Apostles at Pentecost is the same power that is Christ, the Wisdom of God; it is the same power that Christ sits next to at the right hand of the Father. In other words, when Orthodox Christians are sealed with the Holy Spirit, the power they have access to through the Spirit is the same power of the Father and of the Son.

This puts an interesting spin on those of us who wish to excuse our own weaknesses with those four little words, “I can’t do it.” Yes, that may be true, but if we allow the power of the Holy Spirit to wash over us and allow Him to work in and through us, so, too, do we allow Christ and the Father to work in and through us. We should remember this the next time we are faced with temptation or with something that seems just too hard.

Strength

Tags

Holy Spirit, Samson, St. Ambrose, temptation

Having spent much of the Introduction to the second book of his treatise On the Holy Spirit demonstrating how Samson is filled with the Holy Spirit, St. Ambrose has this to say about Smason’s loss of his great strength and subsequent recovery:

Is that, then, Samson who broke ropes twisted with thongs, and new cords like weak threads? Is that Samson who did not feel the bonds of his hair fastened to the beam, so long as he had the grace of the Spirit? He, I say, after the Spirit of God departed from him, was greatly changed from that Samson Who returned clothed in the spoils of the aliens, but fallen from his greatness on the knees of a woman, caressed and deceived, is shorn of his hair (Judges 16:7, 11, 19).

Thus, it was not the length of his hair that gave or denied him strength, rather it was his relationship with the Holy Spirit. Samson was:

unconquered so long as he kept the grace of the Spirit . . . and so invincible as to be able to smite a thousand men with the jawbone of an ass (Judg. 15:15); so full of heavenly grace that when thirsty he found even water in the jawbone of an ass

This is another reminder that with God, nothing is impossible, while turning our back on God invites disaster and slavery. It would do all of us well to remember the strength Samson had through the Holy Spirit — the same Spirit with which every Orthodox Christian is sealed. In other words, we have the same strength in the face of our enemies — sin and death. Therefore, the next time we are faced with temptation, remember the strength of Samson and know that we have the power to overcome. Amen.

Resurrection

Tags

Resurrection, St. Ambrose

Today is going to be a short post, due to the various demands of life (and three children). In the Introduction to the second book of his treatise On the Holy Spirit, St. Ambrose makes this passionate and beautiful statement about the mystery of the Resurrection:

O divine mystery! O manifest sacrament! we have escaped from the slayer, we have overcome the strong one. The food of life is now there, where before was the hunger of a miserable death. Dangers are changed into safety, bitterness into sweetness. Grace came forth from the offence, power from weakness, and life from death.

If only more of us, sixteen centuries later, had this kind of fervor and this eloquence. Amen.

Honey

Tags

anti-semitism, Cross, Old Testament, Samson, St. Ambrose

One of the things that the modern reader of the Church Fathers might encounter while reading contemporary commentaries on their writings is the accusation of anti-semitism. In the wake of the holocaust, we tend to be very sensitive about anything that even has the appearance of saying something against the Jews. For example, St. Ambrose continues to elaborate on the story of Samson and the lion in the Introduction of the second book of his treatise On the Holy Spirit:

There are, however, who think on the other hand that the wedlock could not have been established unless the lion of the tribe of Judah had been slain; and so in His body, that is, the Church, bees were found who store up the honey of wisdom, because after the Passion of the Lord the apostles believed more fully. This lion, then, Samson as a Jew slew, but in it he found honey, as in the figure of the heritage which was to be redeemed, that the remnant might be saved according to the election of grace (Rom. 9:5).

We must be careful not to read statements like these anachronistically, but rather in context of when they were written. St. Ambrose is equating the lion to Christ. Thus, the killing of the lion is equated to the crucifixion and the honey to His resurrection.

Another factor to keep in mind is the expectation the Jews had for the Messiah. Reading John 6:15, we see that there was a widespread belief that the Messiah would be a political figure — a King of the line of David. In order to accept the reality of Jesus Christ — the crucified King of Glory — one must let go of this political Messiah and pick up the Cross. The killing of the lion of Judah can be understood to be the destruction of this political expectation in favor of the sweetness of the fruits of the Cross — where Christ leads us into the land of promise, a land of milk and honey.

Finally, note how St. Ambrose characterizes the function of the Church — the redemption of the heritage of the Jews. In other words, he is not characterizing the Jewish people as a group deserving our hatred or violence. Rather, we are the inheritors of their rich heritage — a heritage which bore the fruit of the Cross.