Source: marcheladimitrova.wordpress.com

This last Sunday, I began the homily with a personal anecdote from my past. And that was about one of my first "encounters" with the depths of Orthodox theology through the book Christ in Eastern Christian Thought by Fr. John Meyendorff. This was in the early 70s. I do not intend to repeat here what I said on Sunday, but I did leave out an important element of the reminiscence by failing to say that when I arrived at St. Vladimir's Seminary in 1978, Fr. John was teaching there, and thus was my professor for my three-year stay at the seminary. He taught both Patristics (the study of the Church Fathers) and Church History. Needless to say, that was a great learning experience, as Fr. John was an internationally renowned theologian and scholar. One of my first papers in my Patristics course was an analysis of St. Gregory of Nyssa's The Life of Moses. And I recall a paper in my Church History course about the Old-Believer Schism which racked the Russian Orthodox Church in the 17th c. 

The concept of Holy Tradition is essential to the Orthodox Church. We are not simply a "traditional" Church, but Holy Tradition signifies the very life of Christ in the Church as a gift of the grace of the Holy Spirit. Fr. John Meyendorff often wrote about Tradition and how this Tradition was expressed in Orthodox theology often within the context of the Ecumenical Councils. Leaving it at that, I wanted to share the two texts below from Fr. John in which he brilliantly "liberates" genuine Holy Tradition from passing forms that will only distort it. So, please read these two statements carefully and "think on them" as to how they profoundly express the true meaning of Tradition, and then challenge us to grasp the concept as well as possible so as not to distort it.

Holy Tradition and traditions

“The one Holy Tradition, which constitutes the self-identity of the Church through the ages and is the organic and visible expression of the life of the Spirit in the Church, is not to be confused with the inevitable, often creative and positive, sometimes sinful, and always relative accumulation of human traditions in the historical Church.”

“To disengage Holy Tradition from the human traditions which tend to monopolize it is in fact a necessary condition of its preservation, for once it becomes petrified into the forms of a particular culture, it not only excluded the others and betrays the catholicity of the Church, but it also identifies itself with a passing and relative reality and is in danger of disappearing with it.”

Fr. John Meyendorff

Midweek Morning Meditation

Source: legacyicons.com

 Knowing About God and Knowing God

The most important thing that happens between God and the human soul is to love and to be loved. 

Kallistos Kataphygiotis

It is not particularly difficult to know a great deal about God. One need only devote the time, energy, and mental concentration to studying the works of sound theologians in order to learn, understand, and take in what they are able to tell us about God. As an example, St. Gregory the Theologian illuminates our understanding with the following insight:

     "God is a sea of being, immeasurable and limitless."

St. Gregory's contemporary and friend, St. Basil the Great, offers this further insight:

     "God is the fulness of all qualities and perfections in their highest and infinite form."

And it always enlightening to read/listen to the words of St. John Chrysostom:

     "That God is present everywhere we know, but how, we do not understand, because we can understand only a sensuous presence, and it is not given to us to understand fully the nature of God."

However, to know about God is simply not the same as to know God - to truly experience God's presence directly with all of one's heart, mind, soul and strength (Mk. 12:30). The first - to know about God - is exterior knowledge; the second - to know God - is interior knowledge (genuine gnosis as the Fathers say). It is truly important, in the first place, to know about God, as from the writings of the great Fathers just quoted above. This is especially true, let us say, for pastors and educators, who must teach others what God has revealed to us - be it the inner life of the Trinity (true theology); or the divine and saving oikonomia (divine dispensation for the salvation of the world). This is absolutely essential, so that we have a clear understanding of Who God is, so as to keep ourselves free from error concerning God and thus not be deflected from the path of ultimate union with God.

Direct knowledge of God, though, should be our true desire, for in knowing God directly we will love God with our entire being in the depths of our heart. This love for God will be expressed in worship, praise, and thanksgiving; by desiring to fulfill God's will in all things; and in unceasing remembrance of God in every moment of our lives: "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth" (Ps. 34:1). Then our faith in God will not be cold, abstract, theoretical or lifeless. Rather, it will be a living faith: warm and genuine, showing forth the fruits of love which are well-pleasing to God. As St. John Chrysostom reminds us:

     "God loves us more than a father or a mother or a friend, or anyone else can love, and even more than we can love ourselves, because He is more concerned for our salvation than even His own glory. A testimony of this is the fact that He sent into the world for suffering and death (in human flesh) His Only-begotten Son, solely in order reveal to us the path of salvation and eternal life."

In the words of St. Symeon the New Theologian:

     "As a friend talking with his friend, man speaks with God, and drawing near in confidence he stands before the face of the One who dwells in unapproachable light" (I Tim. 6:16).

However, it does seem that often enough that when we speak or think about God, or even pray to God, that our faith is cold, or perhaps "lukewarm" (Rev. 3:  ). Then, we do not experience God as a "fire that warms and kindles the heart and inward parts," as St. Seraphim of Sarov describes the experience of knowing God. It is then that we must struggle to resist the chilling presence of the "evil one" and his temptations. In repentance, we need to call upon the Lord to restore to us the warmth of His direct and loving presence. This is a worthy struggle, for the Lord taught: "He who endures until the end will be saved" (Matt. 24:13).

The Fathers taught us a great deal about God, because they truly knew God, and thus they wrote and spoke with great warmth, beauty, certainty and directness. They wrote and spoke as they prayed and worshiped - with a burning faith based on direct experience, having been anointed by the Holy One so as to know the mysteries of God (I Jn. 2:20).

A worthy and meaningful lifelong project!

July: A 'month-long spiritual desert'

Source: legacyicons.com

Unless we find ourselves on an exciting vacation somewhere far from home, it seems that nothing can conceivably be more uneventful than a Monday morning in mid-July. The only “variety” offered seems to be found in the weather. Will it rain or will the sun shine? Will the blistering heat continue, or will we feel some relief?

At this point in the summer, we may have already been on vacation – which means that there isn’t much to look forward to—or we are awaiting an upcoming trip that at least fills us with some sense of anticipation and “escape.” Which poses a further question: are those carefully-planned vacations into which we invest so much time, energy, money – and even hope – always as rewarding, relaxing and renewing as anticipated? I suppose that can only be assessed once we have returned – hopefully as intact as when we departed!

Whatever the case may be, the following passage from the Scriptures may just inspire us to see beyond the tedium that leads to the forgetfulness of God: 

“Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather healed” (Heb 12:12-13).

Adding to our spiritual ennui is, admittedly, the fact that July is the most uneventful month of the year liturgically: no major fasts or feasts occur during this month. Basically, there is “only” the Liturgy on Sundays and the commemoration of a few well-known saints throughout the month. With vacationing parishioners, there can be a noticeable drop in church attendance. There may also be certain signs of “spiritual laziness” setting in (induced, perhaps, in part by the haziness of the weather) leading to that condition of spiritual torpor known in our spiritual literature as akedia. 

July, therefore, is something of a month-long stretch of desert, for we celebrated the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul at the end of June and await the major Feasts of the Transfiguration and Dormition in August within the context of the two-week fast from August 1-14.

Of course, we never want to find ourselves saying that there is “only” the Liturgy on Sunday mornings. The word “only” is hopelessly inadequate when applied to the Lord’s Day celebration of the Eucharist! 

“Only” implies “uneventful.” Yet, every Liturgy is the actualization of the Paschal Mystery of the Death and Resurrection of Christ, and our participation in that mystery. And every Liturgy is simultaneously the actualization of the Pentecostal mystery of the sanctifying presence of the Holy Spirit: "Send down Thy Holy Spirit upon us and upon these gifts here offered." 

At every Liturgy we proclaim and bless the presence and power of the Kingdom of Heaven. We are praying to and praising the Holy Trinity together with the angels and the saints. We are in direct communion with God and one another in the Liturgy. This means that every Liturgy is “eventful” in a manner that we can barely comprehend!

If, indeed, the summer proves to be something of a spiritual drought, then we can only thank God for the weekly liturgical cycle that begins and culminates with the Divine Liturgy on the Lord’s Day so that we can recover and renew our genuine humanity that has been created, redeemed and transformed “in Christ.” 

To speak of our life “in Christ” on the communal level we believe that at every Liturgy, we anticipate the messianic banquet where and when “many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 8:11). The heavenly manna, or the “Bread from heaven” that we receive by the grace of God, strengthens us in the somewhat outward and inward “desert-like” conditions of the world around or within us.

On a more interior level, we may one day make the wonderful discovery that we need not travel far away geographically in order to embark upon a life-transforming journey. In the Prologue to his book The Orthodox Way, Metropolitan Kallistos Ware relates the following anecdote.

“One of the best known of the Desert Fathers of the fourth-century Egypt, Saint Sarapion the Sidonite, traveled once on pilgrimage to Rome. Here he was told of a celebrated recluse, a woman who lives always in one small room, never going out. Skeptical about her way of life – for he was himself a great wanderer – Sarapion called on her and asked: ‘Why are you sitting here?’ To this she replied: ‘I am not sitting, I am on a journey'.”

Admittedly, this will not work well with the children. But at one point in our lives, we need desperately to make that discovery of our interior depths wherein we find a point of stillness that will further still our excessive restlessness that endlessly pushes us “outward” rather than “inward.” In one of my favorite sentences in The Orthodox Way, Metropolitan Kallistos puts it this way: 

“We are on a journey through the inward space of the heart, a journey not measured by the hours of our watch or the days of the calendar, for it is a journey out of time into eternity.”

“Vacations” are one thing, and “journeys” (or pilgrimages) another. The packaging and planning of the former make them much more predictable that the limitless possibilities of the latter. So, as we plan our outward vacations by plane or car, we need make provisions for the interior journeys into the greater space of our hearts through “faith, hope and love,” as well as through the practices of prayer and fasting, so as to remain attentive to the “still voice of God” that gives direction and meaning to our lives. Be that as it may, we pray that God will bless us on both forms of travel!

Orthodox Mission Center

 A wonderfu story from the OCMC about a new cathedral in Northern Kenya. Unfortunately, I am not able to pass on the photos of the event. 

I have provided a link to the OCMC if you would like to see some of the missionary activities of this now lively ministry supported by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese.

https://www.ocmc.org/?bbeml=tp...

_____

Historic Consecration in Kenya 

Thousands Gather at St. Mark Cathedral in Eldoret Diocese 

This past Sunday, nearly 2,000 faithful and visitors gathered in the town of Kapsabet for the consecration of the Saint Mark Orthodox Cathedral for the Diocese of Eldoret and Northern Kenya. The Cathedral’s construction was made possible through a Mission Center grant, funded by Saint Mark Greek Orthodox Church in Boca Raton, Florida. His Eminence Metropolitan Sevastianos of Atlanta and Fr. Mark Leondis, pastor of Saint Mark, led a group of 18 parishioners to participate in the historic event. Mission Center Development Director Dan Christopulos, who served as the Mission Center’s first missionary in Kenya from 1985 – 1987, also helped lead the group and orient participants to the work of the Mission Center in Kenya and beyond. 

His Grace Bishop Neofitos of Eldoret and Northern Kenya exclaimed: “Glory to God on this exceptional day. History has been made in our Church and Diocese. We thank God for all blessings and for the visitors who came to pray with us today. Their presence and theirthanksgiving will continue to support the ministries in our Diocese. May your reward be eternal. God bless you all!” 

His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Nairobi presided at the services, concelebrated with five brother hierarchs: His Eminence Metropolitan Sevastianos of Atlanta, His Eminence Metropolitan Jeronymos of Kampala, His Grace Bishop Neofitos (whose Cathedral was consecrated), His Grace Bishop Sylvester of Jinja and Eastern Uganda, and His Grace Bishop Nektarios of Gulu and Northern Uganda. 

Fr. Leondis was given the honor of being first among the 50+ priests from various dioceses in Kenya who participated in the services, including Fr. Vasile Bitere of Augusta, Georgia who was part of the group from America. Also in attendance were several Kenyan government officials, including the Governor of Nandi County Mr. Stephen Sang, the special assistant to President Ruto of Kenya, Mr. Farouk Teigut Kibet, several Members of Parliament, and other local leaders. 

“This journey reminded us that the Church is truly One—across oceans, cultures, and languages. We were humbled and blessed to walk with our brothers and sisters in Kenya,”concluded Fr. Mark Leondis. “Although we are 12,752 kilometers away, we are united through the Chalice. And together, we are the Saint Mark family. This is not the end of our relationship, but the beginning of a lifelong connection in Christ. What a blessing for our St. Mark family of Boca to support this initiative through OCMC. We leave with hearts filled with Christ and His love. May Saint Mark, intercede for us all!”

A Follow-Through Reflection

 

Source: damascenegallery.com

I have just learned the following "bad news" from a newly published article by the Associated Press:

"Monday was the last day as an independent agency for the six-decade-old humanitarian and development organization, created by President John F. Kennedy as a peaceful way of promoting U.S. national security by boosting goodwill and prosperity abroad."

The administration has ordered USAID absorbed into the State Department on Tuesday.

I wrote about the tragic deaths that will result around the world, primarily among children, from defunding USAID in a reflection on June 6, entitled, "Too Many Children are Suffering Avoidable Starvation and Death." The data referred to then - as disturbing as it was - is now dwarfed by the anticipated deaths that now threaten men women and children throughout the world. I now quote an article written by Aria Bendex and printed on the "health news" page from NBC News today: "USAID cuts could lead to 14 Million deaths over the next five years, researches say:"

"The analysis found that, from 2001 through 2021, USAID-funded programs prevented nearly 92 million deaths across 133 countries, including more than 25 million deaths from HIV/AIDS, around 11 million from diarrheal diseases, 8 million from malaria and nearly 5 million from tuberculosis."

"The analysis, done by a team of international researchers from Spain, Brazil, Mozambique and the United States, estimated the impact of the 83% funding cuts, assuming they remain through 2030. Of the more than 14 million deaths forecast, around 4.5 million would be among children under 5, the authors found.

“The numbers are striking, but we are not the only group that did this kind of analysis,” said Davide Rasella, a research professor at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, who coordinated the study. Other research groups, he said, “came up with similar magnitudes — millions and millions of deaths that will be caused by the defunding of USAID".”

"Amira Albert Roess, a professor of global health and epidemiology at George Mason University, said the way the funding was terminated is partly responsible for the high number of predicted deaths:

“For better or for worse, some of the USAID-funded clinics in some areas, they were the main source of care,” she said. “If you wanted to reduce USAID funding, it could have been done in a more gradual manner, instead of this sudden — and really, in a lot of places, overnight — shuttering of clinics".”

It seem painfully obvious that so much of this suffering and death could have been avoided by more careful research and planning, and a humanitarian impulse - together with American "soft power" that was behind these life-saving programs going back to the 1960s. Allowing for compassion - a decisive Christian response - in federal government decisions does not violate the separation of Church and State. It actually makes us a better nation. As Orthodox Christians, it is the Gospel and the "mind of Christ" that we need to manifest when examine policies and principles.

I would like to include former president George Bush's comments to disheartened staffers who will be relieved of their positions now: “You’ve showed the great strength of America through your work — and that is your good heart,’’ Bush told USAID staffers. “Is it in our national interests that 25 million people who would have died now live? I think it is, and so do you," he said.

Fr. Steven