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

The Apostles Peter & Paul - The Greatest and Most Righteous Pillars of the Church

Source: uncutmountainsupply.com

 

“During their earthly lives, all the saints are an incentive to virtue for those who hear and see them with understanding, for they are human icons of excellence, animated pillars of goodness, and living books, which teach us the way to better things.” (Homily on Saints Peter and Paul by St. Gregory Palamas)

Every year, on June 29 we celebrate and commemorate the two great Apostles Peter and Paul. Their martyrdom in Rome is a very well-attested historical event, happening probably between the years 64-68 A.D. under the Roman emperor Nero. This is considered within the Church to be such a great Feast that it is preceded by a prescribed time of fasting, a practice only reserved otherwise for the great Feasts of the Lord (Nativity and Pascha) and the Mother of God (Dormition). This both stresses the historical greatness of these two apostles, the accomplishments of their respective ministries, their martyric ends, and the very ministry and role of an apostle in proclaiming the Gospel to the world in fulfillment of the Lord’s command to preach the Good News to “all nations.” (MATT. 28:16-20) Indeed, St. Clement of Rome in his First Epistle, referred to Sts. Peter and Paul as “the greatest and most righteous pillars [of the church].” On careful reflection, it is not simply pious rhetoric that informs some of the hymns chanted in their honor during this Feast:

What spiritual songs shall we sing for Peter and Paul? They have silenced the sharp tongues of the godless. They are awesome swords of the Spirit. They are the adornment of Rome; They have nourished the whole world with the Word of God. They are the living tablets of the New Testament written by the hand of God; Christ who has great mercy, has exalted them in Zion.(Great Vespers)

In the New Testament, fourteen of the Epistles are traditionally attributed to St. Paul and two are attributed to St. Peter. While the entire Acts of the Apostles is basically devoted to recording some of the major events in the history of these two apostles “in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.” (ACTS. 1:8) It may not be wholly accurate to refer to Sts. Peter and Paul as the apostles, respectively, “to the circumcised” (the Jews) and the “uncircumcised” (the Gentiles) – for St. Peter preached to the Gentiles and St. Paul to the Jews – but this is a way of capturing the fullness of their combined ministries so that Jews and Gentiles would be united in the one Body of Christ in fulfillment of God’s design.

At Great Vespers of this Feast, three New Testament readings are prescribed, all from St. Peter’s first Epistle. We hear from the magnificent opening of I Peter, and this passage profoundly presents the essence of the Gospel as proclaimed in the apostolic age of the Church’s foundation, by the “prince of the apostles.” For those who have not heard or read this passage recently, a good portion of it deserves to be recorded here so as “to make your day:”

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and to an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though for a little while you may have to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious that gold which though perishable is tested by fire, may redound to praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Without having seen him you love him; though you do not now see him you believe in him and rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy. As the outcome of your faith you obtain the salvation of your souls.(I PET. 1:3-9)

In this passage, St. Peter reminds us that from the beginning the Gospel bestowed upon on Christians a “living hope” that was based on the fact of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. All New Testament writers establish Christian hope on the bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead. (In his first Epistle to the Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul did not want his early converts to be “without hope” like their pagan neighbors, thus attesting to how important hope is for the believing Christian). The Apostle Peter was not offering yet another philosophy, but proclaiming the activity of God – “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” – within the realm of human history; that is that God has acted decisively on our behalf by overcoming death itself through the resurrection of Jesus. He then describes our “inheritance” in heaven in strikingly powerful images, emphasizing the eternal and unassailable reality of heaven – “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.” This is in sharp contrast to life as we now know it in this world, for all created things are perishable, subject to defilement and destined to fade away. The Apostle Paul confirms this also by saying that “the form of this world is fading away.” (I COR. 7:31) “Guarded by faith,” we await a salvation that will be “revealed in the last time,” meaning the Parousia and end of time.

Yet, the apostle knows that this gift cannot be lightly received and treated. It will only come after “various trials” that are inevitable in a fallen world. In this instance, St. Peter was most likely referring to persecution as this had already broken out against the earliest Christians. However, suffering comes in other forms. These trials will test the “genuineness”of our faith, purifying it if we emerge from these tribulations purged like gold “tested by fire.” All of this is true even though we have not seen nor “see” Jesus even now. This is true of all of Christ’s disciples through the ages, called by Jesus Himself “blessed” by believing though not actually having seen Him (JN. 20:29).

The strength of this experience is beautifully expressed by St. Peter when he confidently states that we “rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy.” This is almost embarrassing when we admit dragging ourselves to church or praying as if constrained under a heavy obligation or a “religious duty” that takes us away from more “interesting” activities! A joyless Christianity is completely foreign to the New Testament. As is a “second place” (or “third” or fourth,” etc.) Christianity in the priorities of our lives. The intended “outcome” of all this is “the salvation of your souls.” Is this why every liturgical service that begins with the Great Litany has us praying to the Lord in the first full petition, for the “peace from above and for the salvation of our souls?” There is nothing “selfish” in seeking or accepting the “salvation of our souls.” This is the gift of God that is intended for all. In the assurance of this gift, we can work more steadfastly on behalf of others, and share what God has done on our behalf.

The Apostles Peter and Paul are truly “Rivers of wisdom and upholders of the Cross!” They exemplified the later teaching of St. Ignatius of Antioch of the mystery of Christ that conveys “life in death.” For they died as martyrs but are eternally alive in Christ. We can now read their epistles and their lives as “living books which teach us the way to better things” as St. Gregory Palamas said of them. We seek their prayers as we strive to be worthy of the title of “Christian.”