MARY - Woman and Mother

Image source: legacyicons.com

Dear Parish Faithful,

Here are a couple of insightful paragraphs on the role of the Virgin Mary in the divine oikonomia. These passages also offer good insight into the ever-perplexing genealogy found in St. Matthew's Gospel, and the undeniably major role assumed by women in that genealogy:

"Mary is presented as the final and perfect instrument in God's providential history. She brings to fruition a long history of courageous women and mothers, as she gives birth to the Messianic son of David, son of Abraham (Matt. 1:1). Matthew indicates that Israel's sacred history has been marked, from its very beginning, by women open to God's action in their lives, cost them what it may. The presence of the feminine through the religious history of Israel, incarnated in the women mentioned explicitly by Matthew, and culminated in Mary of Nazareth, shows that, despite all the judgments of society, religion and culture, they were the ones who were open to the initiative of God working in them. Thus, one of them became the mother of the Messiah."

"The earliest Church immediately saw Mary as a woman and a mother. These themes are repeated in Matthew, but now we see Mary understood and presented as the perfection of all the women who have played a decisive role in the gradual unfolding of God's salvation history to become the mother of Jesus Christ. Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba are not only women of great significance in critical moments of God's unfolding plan for his people. There is more to their role: they are included in the genealogy, written in a way which indicated that it is God-directed, because of their husbands and the sons they bore to them. They are both women and mothers."

MARY - Woman and Mother, by Francis J. Moloney

 

Coffee With Sister Vassa: Celebrating Our Jewish "Root"

 

CELEBRATING OUR JEWISH “ROOT”

“By faith You justified the Forefathers, when through them You betrothed Yourself beforehand to the Church of the Gentiles. The saints boast in glory, that from their seed there is a glorious fruit: she who bore You without seed. By their prayers, O Christ God, save our souls.” (Troparion, Sunday of the Forefathers)

On the second-to-last Sunday before Christmas, our church celebrates the Jewish “forefathers” of the Theotokos, who rightfully “boast in glory” that she came “from their seed.” But this makes me think about Romans 11, where St. Paul talks about a wrong kind of boasting on the part of some Gentile Christians, who boasted “against” the non-believing Jews in their midst. 

St. Paul warns the Gentile Christians not to boast or feel superior to those Jewish people who rejected Christ, because the latter remain the “root” and the original “branches” that support the new Tree of Life, the incarnate Son of God, while Gentiles were “grafted in” from the “wild” later, after the “Tree” had been well-established: “And if some of the branches were broken off,” St. Paul writes to these Gentiles, “and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.” (Rom 11: 17-18) In this chapter, St. Paul also expresses his faith that “all Israel will be saved” in the end, because “they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.” (Rom 11: 26,28)

As we pray for the intercessions of the Jewish ancestors of our Jewish Lord this season, I take pause and say, “Thank you, Jewish people!” for being our root. It’s not an easy thing to be, as we can see throughout history and today, when many of us continue somehow to resent you for it. Holy Forefathers, pray to God for the Jewish people and for all of us this season, that we remember we are all “beloved”!

_____

I very much appreciate Sister Vassa's recognition of the "Jewish people" and our thankfulness to them for being the root of our Christian Faith. As the Lord declared: "Salvation is from the Jews." (Jn. 4:22) Perhaps we may understand the anguish of the Apostle Paul who so hoped and prayed for the conversion of Israel in his profound conviction that Jesus, indeed, is the Messiah of Israel. But that has nothing to do with the irrationality of "Christian" antisemitism - possibly the greatest historical sin of Christianity through the centuries. As profound as our disagreement may be about the "identity" of Jesus of Nazareth with our Jewish friends, that disagreement must remain within the bounds of sharing a common root and of respect and care for the "other," especially of those who have born the burden of persecution for their faith. 

As the Roman Catholic thinker Leon Bloy expressed it: "Antisemitism ... is the most horrible slap in the face suffered in the ever continuing Passion of our Lord. It is the most stinging and most unpardonable because He suffers it on His Mother's Face and at the hands of Christians."

Coffee With Sister Vassa: Faith in the Human Being

 

FAITH IN THE HUMAN BEING

"We love because He first loved us. If anyone says, 'I love God,' yet hates his brother, he is a liar." (1 Jn 4:19-20)

Our human (self-)loathing is a kind of denial of God’s undying love for us and faith in us. It’s a sign that on some level we don’t believe in the God in Whom St. John the Evangelist believes, Who, through us sent His Son into our world. As St. John says in this same chapter, “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world…”

Christianity proclaims a radical faith in humanity; God’s undying faith in humanity, which is more honorable and honored than the Cherubim, and more glorious and glorified beyond compare than the Seraphim. We are also entrusted with God’s revelation of Himself to us; with receiving it and passing it on, from generation to generation, based on human testimony and language, and other messy and fallible human capacities. 

May I believe in us today, and embrace the hope, love and patience with ustoday, that God unchangeably has and extends to each of us daily. I can do that, by opening up to Him in prayer, and letting His divine energies, His faith and His love for all of us, break into my broken and contrite heart. God is the Lord and has appeared unto us! Let me let that sink in, as we proceed on our journey to Bethlehem, preparing our little gifts for one another, as little testimonies of our love for Him.

_____

In a time of dehumanization through either ugly rhetoric or violent actions, this is a wonderful "reminder" of the goodness of humanity and of our responsibility as Christians to clarify our vision whenever it becomes obscured by the disparaging nature of sinful words and actions. May Christ strengthen us in that worthy endeavor! 

Coffee With Sister Vassa: Illumined, But Not Consumed

 

ILLUMINED, BUT NOT CONSUMED

“Standing in a furnace of flaming fire as though in dew, 
the Holy Youths mystically prefigured Your coming from a Virgin, 
by which we are illumined, but not consumed…” 

(Hymn at Vespers, Sunday of the Forefathers) 

On the Sundays before Christmas, in our church-services we will hear references to the story of the Three Holy Youths in the fiery furnace, as told in Chapter 3 of the Book of Daniel. This incident “mystically prefigured” Christ’s“coming from a Virgin, by which we are illumined but not consumed,” as explained in the above-quoted hymn. Just as the Theotokos was not consumed by the living God in her womb, neither are we consumed by receiving His Body and Blood in ours. “We are illumined, but not consumed.”

Why does it need to be said, that the true God does not come into our lives to consume or harm us, like fire? Because, before His coming, most of humanity believed in gods that were not good and loving. We believed they needed to be kept at bay, by offering them all sorts of sacrifices, so that they would not harm us. We might still tend to suspect that God somehow needs to be satisfied by our good works, otherwise He will turn against us. But this is a pagan notion, as I’m reminded by the story of the Three Holy Youths, who did not succumb to the fears of the pagans who threw them into the furnace. 

Let me continue this journey of the Nativity Fast in the light and lightness of the Cross, not with anxiety. It’s a journey by which we are meant to be illumined, one day at a time, but not consumed. By the prayers of the Theotokos, Savior, save us!

_____

Here is a touch of "good news" for those of you who read Sister Vassa's wonderful and succinct reflections as they come out periodically: She is scheduled to visit our church on Wednesday, March 19, 2025 and give a talk to the parish entitled: "Great Lent as a Great Catechism." More details to follow.

"Let Us Give Thanks to the Lord"

Image source: uocofusa.org

 

'Let us give thanks unto the Lord!'

"Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?" (LK. 17:17)

Dear Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,

The cleansing of the ten lepers (LK. 17:11-19) is clearly a remarkable story that reveals the exousia, or authority, of Christ over sickness. Yet, in addition, it is a healing story that is just as much about the need to offer thanksgiving to God whenever we are a recipient of His abundant mercy.

As the story opens, we first hear the plaintive and pathetic cry from these lepers: "And as he entered the village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices and said, 'Jesus, Master, have pity on us'." (v.12-13) Did these lepers truly believe that Jesus could do something for them that no one else could possibly do?

In response to whatever level of faith they may have had, Jesus cleansed the ten lepers simply by His word:  "When he saw them he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to priests." And as they went they were cleansed." (v. 14).

Lepers, of course, were not allowed to be near the other members of their community, for they were declared to be unclean and therefore, ritually impure (LEV. 13:45-46; NUM. 5:2-3). Their cleansing not only freed them from a debilitating illness that left its victims visibly disfigured; but it also restored them to fellowship in their community. Their ostracism was now over. 

According to the Law, the priests that Jesus sent them to would declare their healing and make that restoration to society a possibility. Yet, considering the enormous generosity of Christ in being the source of both their cleansing and restoration, we read with great surprise that only one of them returned to Jesus in order to thank Him:

Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell at his feet, giving him thanks. (v. 15-16)

What adds to our surprise is that this newly-cleansed leper "was a Samaritan." (v. 16) We know that Jews and Samaritans were hostile to each other and that "Jews have no dealings with Samaritans."(JN. 4:9) In the light of that reality, it is all the more significant that there was a Samaritan among the ten lepers. Perhaps, as lepers, they were forced to keep company; but could it be possible that in their misery they understood that they shared a common humanity that transcended their ethnic/cultural/religious barriers? So, perhaps in their collective misery, these lepers overcame their mutual hostility as they remained together on the outskirts of the village. 

Be that as it may, Jesus wanted to point out the incongruity of a Samaritan returning to offer thanks to God, while His fellow Jews failed to do so. And then Jesus asks what is a very convicting question that goes to the very heart of the matter:  "Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner"?" (v. 17-18) Even Jesus calls the Samaritan a "foreigner!" (It is of note that it was a foreigner - Naaman - who returned to Elisha after being healed of leprosy (II KINGS 5:15, LK. 4:27). But, nevertheless, the question "cuts deep," we can say. 

Christ does not "need" to be thanked. Jesus is not petulant; and He is not offended by the cleansed lepers who failed to return as did the Samaritan. It was the lepers who needed to offer thanksgiving or praise to God for what had been done for them. That was the point that Christ drew attention to through His publicly-stated question. Significantly, Jesus tells the Samaritan:  "Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well." (v. 17) Did the cleansed and thankful leper receive more than the others had done?

St. Athanasius the Great implies this in his comments on this passage:

"They thought more highly of their cure from leprosy than of him who who had healed them.... Actually, this one was given much more than the rest. Besides being healed of his leprosy, he was told by the Lord, "Stand up and go on your way. Your faith has saved you." You see, those who give thanks and those who glorify have the same kind of feelings. They bless their helper for the benefits they have received. That is why Paul urged everybody to 'glorify God with your body.' Isaiah also commanded, 'Give glory to God'." — Festal Letter 6

The leprosy that was treated with fear and great caution in the Scriptures can serve as a vivid metaphor for human sin. In the Orthodox Tradition, we treat sin more as a sickness than as the breaking of a commandment. Sin is more of a "condition" than a "crime." It is, actually, the "human condition" into which we are born when we enter this world. Thus, "Since all are sinners and fall short of the glory of God" (ROM. 3:23), we all need to be healed by God. And we all have been: through the redemptive death of Christ on the Cross and His Resurrection from the dead. And then through our personal death to sin and resurrection to life with Christ through the mystery of Baptism. (ROM. 6:3-11) 

For this we give thanks to God from a heart overflowing with gratitude, thanksgiving and love because we are overwhelmed by what God has done for us in and through our Savior Jesus Christ. We may have been healed through Baptism, but without the response of thanksgiving, this healing remains incomplete, and it will not bear much fruit. 

On the Lord's Day we come to the Eucharistic service of the Church - the Liturgy - which is the Service of Thanksgiving, we could say. Our presence signifies our own "return" to the Lord in response to His healing presence in our lives. (For the baptized who do not return to thus give thanks, we find a resemblance to the healed lepers who failed to return in order to praise God). And it is then that we offer thanksgiving to God as we offer ourselves up to God through the sacrifice of Christ actualized in the Liturgy. And then we receive the Eucharist - the "thanksgiving food" - to nourish us in this movement of growing love toward the most Holy Trinity:

"Eucharistisomen to Kyrio!" - "Let us give thanks unto the Lord!"

The Image of Giving in St Nicholas

 

Image Source: ancientfaith.com

Dear Fathers, Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,

There are nineteen days of charity, prayer and fasting left before Christmas... Redeem the time.

Today we commemorate St. Nicholas of Myra in Lycia, the Wonderworker (December 6). There is a certain unresolved tension that accompanies his person and memory: On the one hand, there are few "hard facts" about his life (to the point where many doubt his actual historical existence); and on the other hand, he is clearly one of the most beloved and universally venerated of saints within the Church. It is said that even many Muslims venerate St. Nicholas! A good example of an objective account of the few facts behind the saint's life can be found in a short introductory biographical note concerning St. Nicholas in the book,The Time of the Spirit:

Little is known for certain about the life of St. Nicholas, bishop of Myra in Lycia (Asia Minor). It is believed that he suffered imprisonment during the last major persecution of the Church under Diocletian in the early fourth century, and that he attended the first Ecumenical Council at Nicea in 325. Christian tradition has come to regard him, in the words of an Orthodox hymn, as "an example of faith and an icon of gentleness." (Time of the Spirit, p. 69)

For those interested in the historical background of St. Nicholas, the following note found in The Synaxarion, Vol. II, edited by Hieromonk Makarios of Simonas Petras, may prove to be of real interest:

Since the medieval period, St. Nicholas of Myra has been confused with St. Nicholas of Sion, who founded a monastery not far from Myra at the end of the 5th century. The Vita of the latter has come down to us but the incidents in it have been entirely ascribed to St. Nicholas of Myra, with the result that St. Nicholas of Sion has been forgotten in the hagiographical accounts.... (See The Life of Saint Nicholas of Sion, edited and translated by I. N. P. Sevcenko (Brookline, MA, 1984).

So, even if we are dealing with a "composite figure" when we venerate St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, we nevertheless are given a glimpse into the "mind of the Church" when it comes to an image of a true pastor. A powerful and enduring image of a genuine Christian shepherd has remained within the memory of the Church, regardless of the now unrecoverable "facts" behind the actual history of 4th - 5th c. Asia Minor. It is this "unerring" intuition of the People of God that the faithful respond to up to the present day that remains as a solid foundation upholding all of the wonderful stories that endear us to St. Nicholas. The Church today desperately needs bishops of the type embodied by St. Nicholas. A shepherd who is a "rule of faith and an image of humility" would mean a great deal more to the Christian flock, than legal-minded adherence to canon law. St. Nicholas both protected and interceded for his flock, according to the great Russian Orthodox iconographer, Leonid Uspensky. And he further writes:

"This 'life for others' is his characteristic feature and is manifested by the great variety of forms of his solicitude for men: his care for their preservation, their protection from the elements, from human injustice, from heresies and so forth. This solicitude was accompanied by numerous miracles both during his life and after his death. Indefatigable intercessor, steadfast, uncompromising fighter for Orthodoxy, he was meek and gentle in character and humble in spirit." (The Time of the Spirit, p. 69)

Well-known as St. Nicholas has been, he is perhaps less well-known in today's world. In fact, he may be slowly slipping away from Christian consciousness. Santa Claus, that rather unfortunate caricature of the saintly bishop, clearly has something to do with this. But perhaps the very virtues embodied by this saint are slowly fading from our consciousness. A few weeks back, I wrote a meditation that passed on the name our social and secular world has "earned" for itself through its rampant commercialization of Christmas - and that is "Getmas." The author who coined this new term - I forget his name - claims it came to him based on a conversation he had had with a good friend about the "spirit of Christmas." The friend of our author said that Christmas was about "getting things." When the author countered by saying, "I thought Christmas was about giving," the friend quickly retorted: "Sure, people are supposed to give me things!" Out of this sad exchange came the unfortunate, but accurate, Getmas.

St. Nicholas was about the proper understanding of "giving." Perhaps the most enduring quality of his image is that of giving to children in need. Our children learn that those who already "have" more are those who will yet "get" more. And that is because they are taught this by their parents who yield to their demands. So we persist in widening the gap of imbalance between the "haves" and "have-nots" without too many pangs of (Christian) conscience. St. Nicholas wanted to restore a sense of balance, and so he looked first to those who were in need, so that they could also taste some childlike happiness from receiving an unexpected gift. In a simple manner, this imitates the giving of God Who gave us Christ at a time when everyone - rich and poor alike - were impoverished through sin and death.

I sometimes fantasize that an ideal celebration of Christmas would find a relatively affluent family making sure that they spent more on those in need than on themselves. If Christianity is indeed the "imitation of the divine nature" as St. Gregory of Nyssa once said, then that need not necessarily be such an unrealistic idea. I do not believe that I have ever actually done that, so I convict myself through the very thought. Yet, I am convinced that our children would respond with an eager spirit of cooperation if properly prepared for some approximation of that ideal. Why should it be otherwise if, according to the Apostle Paul, Christ said that it is more blessed to give than to receive?

Once again, just a thought based upon the image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.

Coffee With Sister Vassa: "Innocent" Suffering

 

“INNOCENT” SUFFERING 

“I will receive the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.”(Ps. 115:4)

This verse is relevant to both feasts celebrated this Wednesday: the Great Martyr Barbara (NC) and the Entry (or “Leading In” in Slavonic,Vvedenie) of the Theotokos into the Temple (OC). The verse is chanted on feasts of the Theotokos as the Communion Verse, because it connotes the “cup” of suffering, of which the Most Holy Virgin was to drink throughout her unique vocation. Note that the word “cup” in the Bible often means suffering, as in, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me…” (Lk 22:42).

I’m thinking of the suffering that was to be endured by the three-year-old Mary, and of the young Barbara, who, together with Juliana (who was inspired by Barbara’s fearlessness and ended up being martyred with her) “received” the “cup of salvation.” In Barbara’s case, this included the heartbreak of her own father, Dioscorus, having her arrested and later beheading her with his own hands. Before their execution, both Barbara and Juliana were led naked through their city, amidst the derision and jeers of the crowds. I’m thinking also how the young Mary was led, not only into the Temple at age three, being separated from her parents, - but a decade or so later, when she was very-pregnant and both her parents had died, how she was led to Bethlehem, seated on a donkey. This reminds me of our Lord, seated on a donkey, entering Jerusalem, where He was to die His death-trampling death. 

How can we process the “innocent suffering” described above? Let’s first re-think the word “innocent,” which means “harmless,” from the Latin in + nocere, meaning “not to hurt/harm.” And let’s establish that the self-offering of the Theotokos, of Barbara and Juliana, and of their Lord, was by no means “harmless.” Their overcoming of fear, when they were called to “receive the cup of salvation” and testify to Truth, was a liberating sign that dealt a heavy blow to merely-human fear, and to those who terrorized entire peoples through it.“Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against…,” as Simeon said to Mary, when she brought Him into the Temple.

Today we celebrate the mystifying self-offering of the three-year-old Theotokos, and of Barbara and Juliana, in gratitude for their testimony. They testified to the Great Fact that there is more to life and to death than what self-preserving fears would dictate to us. Thank You, Lord, for the Holy Witnesses in our midst. By their prayers, Savior, save us!

Coffee With Sister Vassa: Loving God Without Stress

 

LOVING GOD WITHOUT STRESS

“It is a great art to succeed in having your soul sanctified. A person can become a saint anywhere... At your work, whatever it may be, you can become a saint through meekness, patience, and love. Make a new start every day, with new resolution, with enthusiasm and love, prayer and silence — not with anxiety so that you get a pain in the chest.” (St. Porphyrios, Wounded by Love)

Today is the day of the repose (on December 2, 1991) of Elder Porphyrios Kavsokalivitis, so I’m reflecting on some of the wisdom of this beloved, modern-day saint. I love that he encouraged us to make a new start every day, “not with anxiety so that you get a pain in the chest.” He often advised people to lead their spiritual lives based not on stress or anxiety, but on love. It’s such a useful and consoling tip, as we proceed along the journey of the Nativity Fast.

“We love God without contorting ourselves and without exertion and struggle,” St. Porphyrios says in another passage from the above-quoted book.“What is difficult for man is easy for God. We will love God suddenly when grace overshadows us. If we love Christ very much, the prayer will say itself. Christ will be continually in our mind and in our heart.” 

Let us continue the journey of this Nativity Fast, dear friends, making “a new start every day” and not with anxiety. Holy Father Porphyrios, pray to God for us!

From Mother Paula

Image source: oca.org

Dear family and friends, Wishing everyone a thankful and blessed Thanksgiving day! Hope you enjoy these verses from our Thanksgiving service.

Yours in Christ, Mother Paula & OMT Nuns

Come all you, thankful people, And let us raise a hymn of grateful praise to God, our Benefactor and Creator, The bounteous source of all our blessings, The riches of our earthly life and the glory of the world to come, for in His Great mercy and love for us His children, He has granted us salvation.

We give thanks to God, the Father, For our faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, For the love of all His saints, And for the truth of the Holy Gospel, Which we and all the world have received, Bringing forth the fruit of the grace of God, And salvation to our souls.

Come with the angels let us praise our Lord and Maker Our deliverance from distress, our defense in time of danger, Our healing in sickness, our comfort in sorrow, Our hope in despair, our help in adversity; And let us offer songs of Thanksgiving for this His greatest gift, His ever abiding, mercy and love for us,Through which we are granted forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.

Coffee With Sister Vassa: Preparing for Thanksgiving

 

PREPARING FOR THANKSGIVING

“O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever.” (Ps 106/107: 1)

Goodness and mercy. This year, it is again what I’d like to give thanks for, as I prepare for the wonderful holiday of Thanksgiving and the upcoming (on the OC) Nativity Fast. God reveals His enduring goodness and mercy to me not only through the ever-changing places, things, situations and states of my mind and heart and body, but also through the words, actions, and attitudes of people near and not-so-near to me. As we walk through our both challenging and grace-filled times, I’m reminded that it is through the ups and downs of time that God is invariably sending us the open invitation to change; to grow in understanding, goodness and mercy toward ourselves and one another.

This year, people have imparted, and continue to impart, God’s goodness and mercy to me, even from a long distance, in the strange reality of our online “communities.” Thank You, God, for the goodness and mercy of Your people, who pop up in my life as friends or foes. Help me, Lord, to be teachable and to learn what I need to learn, to pass on Your goodness and mercy in this challenging time, full of opportunities for that kind of thing. Amen!

Thanksgiving Day Meditation

Image source: oca.org

 

Indulging not in food, but in giving thanks to the Lord! Dear Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ, A few years ago I ran across an op-ed piece in our local newspaper titled "A Moveable Fast" by Elyssa East. Such a title in a well-known urban secular publication was a bit intriguing, especially since the article's concluding paragraph can be read in an "Orthodox manner" without a great deal of manipulation:  In the nearly 400 years since the first Thanksgiving, the holiday has come to mirror our transformation into a nation of gross overconsumption, but the New England colonists never intended for Thanksgiving to be a day of gluttony. They dished up restraint along with gratitude as a shared main course. What mattered most was not the feast itself, but the gathering together in thanks and praise for life's most humble gifts. Perhaps this holiday season we could benefit from restoring a proper Thanksgiving balance between forbearance and indulgence. In other words, the uneasy alliance that has formed over the years between Thanksgiving and indulgence does not properly capture the meaning of this national holiday. For Thanksgiving to be properly "observed," a "gathering together in thanks and praise" is the most appropriate response.  This is a good, albeit brief, definition of what we do in the Divine Liturgy. The Eucharist is about our thanksgiving to God not only for what we may have, but for who we actually are as the People of God in the process of growing in His likeness, our life in Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit. We celebrate that service of thanksgiving — the Eucharist — so that we may realize our vocation as "eucharistic beings," and not as mere "consumers." For those who like theological jargon, our anthropology is maximalist, not minimalist. So, just as we engage in the festal Thanksgiving Day table in our homes, we continually make the effort to receive the eucharistic food from the altar table in a spirit of praise and thanksgiving. And we do so joyfully and eagerly. Elyssa East's op-ed article includes a fascinating historical sketch of the mind and practices of the early Puritans in 17th century New England. Fasting and feasting were part of their way of life. Admittedly, I would acknowledge that the "Orthodox ethos" and the "Puritan ethos" are as far apart as one could imagine. There is the saying that a Puritan is a person who is afraid that someone, somewhere, and for some reason is actually enjoying himself! The Calvinist conception of an angry God Who needs to be appeased before He acts swiftly through punishment does not resonate for Orthodox Christians. And we thank our merciful God for that! Perhaps the harsh environment and struggle for survival experienced by these early Puritans further influenced some of their bleak theological conclusions. However, some of our practices may coincide. The author relates that the Puritans' fear of "excessive rains from the bottles of heaven," in addition to "epidemics, crop infestations, the Indian wars and other hardships," led them to call for community-wide days of fasting or a "day of public humiliation and prayer." She further writes: According to the 19th-century historian William DeLove, the New England colonies celebrated as many as nine such 'special public days' a year from 1620-1700. And as the Puritans were masters of self-denial, days of abstention outnumbered thanksgivings two to one. Fasting, Cotton Mather wrote, 'kept the wheel of prayer in continual motion'. Our fasting as Orthodox Christians, however, is not based on a fearful notion of appeasing God; rather, it is a freely-chosen ascetical effort of self-discipline so as to actualize the words of the Lord when He fasted in the desert: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" [Matthew 4:4]. The rhythm of fasting and feasting is directed by our liturgical calendar, as we are now fasting in preparation for the Feast of the Nativity. We are, however, granted a hierarchical "dispensation" on Thanksgiving Day to "break the fast" in order to celebrate this national holiday as Americans.  Actually, the Orthodox can hold their own with any other religiously-based culture when it comes to feasting. We have a great deal to feast about when we reflect upon the "divine economy!" Yet even feasting is not about "gross overconsumption" and mere indulgence. A few more of Elyssa East's paragraphs help us understand the historical, cultural and religious background of our Thanksgiving Day celebration. "It was in the late 1660s that the New England colonies began holding an 'Annual Provincial Thanksgiving,'" she writes. The holiday we celebrate today is a remnant of this harvest feast, which was theologically counterbalanced by an annual spring fast around the time of planting to ask God's good favor for the year. Yet fasting and praying also immediately preceded the harvest Thanksgiving. In 1690, in Massachusetts the feast itself was postponed, though not the fasting, out of extraordinary concern that the meal would inspire too much 'carnal confidence.' As life in the New World wilderness got easier, the New England colonies gradually began holding only their annual spring fast and fall harvest feast. Even after Abraham Lincoln established Thanksgiving as a national holiday in 1863, Massachusetts continued to celebrate its spring day of abstention for 31 more years. As "right believing" Christians, we know to Whom we offer our thanksgiving and why — not only on Thanksgiving Day, but at every Eucharistic Divine Liturgy. As the "royal priesthood" of believers, it is our responsibility to hold up the world in prayer before God — Father, Son and Holy Spirit. If this national holiday is now characterized by "gross overconsumption," that does not mean that we need to follow such a pattern when we have the opportunity to thank and praise God before we share our domestic meals together. Perhaps a properly understood "fear of God" can be spiritually healthy when we contemplate our choices. We have a wonderful opportunity to begin our Day of Thanksgiving by first attending the Divine Liturgy on Thursday morning at 9:30 a.m.

Leavetaking of the Feast

Image source: legacyicons.com

On this Monday morning, the Leave-taking of the Feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos Into the Temple, here is a succinct reflection into the meaning of the feast outside of its historical plausibility:

Whatever the details of the [Entrance of the Theotokos in the Temple], the theological significance of the Entry remains the same: the Virgin Mary is taken into the Holy of Holies where only the high priest could go. Why was Mary the exception to the rule? Because she would become the true Holy of Holies, the human Ark that would bear the word of God made flesh.

Now the human body becomes the holiest thing on earth, for the Virgin’s womb will become God’s throne. The middle wall of partition that separated God and man (represented by the veil that divides the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies) will be torn down, for the Word will become flesh and live among us (John 1:14).

This is why in a traditional Orthodox Church, one of the first things you will see on entering is a fresco or mosaic in the apse, above the altar, of the Mother of God enthroned with Christ seated on her lap, with an inscription describing her as “The Container of the Uncontainable,” or “She is wider than the Heavens.” This is reminiscent of the prophetic prayer of Solomon after he built the temple: 

But will God, indeed dwell with men on earth? If the heaven and the heaven of heavens will not be sufficient for You, how much less even this temple I have built in Your name? (3 Kings 8:25) 

God will indeed dwell on earth! He who is greater than all creation, whom the universe is too small to contain, will be contained in the womb of a moral woman.

--Fr Vassilios Papavassiliou

Coffee With Sister Vassa: Becoming Orthodox

 

BECOMING ORTHODOX

“Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And there was a woman who had had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years; she was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her and said to her, ‘Woman, you are freed/untied (ἀπολέλυσαι) from your infirmity.’ And he laid his hands upon her, and immediately she was made straight (ἀνωρθώθη), and she praised God. But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the sabbath, said to the people, ‘There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be healed, and not on the sabbath day.’ Then the Lord answered him, ‘You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie/loose (λύει) his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be untied/loosed (λυθῆναι) from this bond on the sabbath day?’” (Lk 13: 10-16)

This woman is both “freed” of her infirmity and “made straight,” after which she praises God. She becomes capable of ortho-doxy or “upright praise”through freedom. Christ compares this healing with the untying of domesticated animals, in order to bring them to water. It is something that needs to be done daily, Sabbath or not, because animals need to drink water every day. Similarly, God’s liberating, “straightening” work for us never stops, regardless of the day of the week, because otherwise we would die. 

This Saturday, I’m thinking how God is both freeing us and making us “straight” or “upright” (orthoí) daily, and our journey of becoming ortho-dox is a life-long process. Time and again, we get tied up and twisted out of shape by the concerns and sometimes the kicks in the gut of everyday life. In Christ, the fulfillment of the Sabbath, we receive true relief from carrying these burdens on our own shoulders, so we can freely come and drink of His water. Let me let Him set me straight this weekend, and respond to His call: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Mt 11: 28)

Coffee With Sister Vassa: Financial Concerns & God

 

FINANCIAL CONCERNS & GOD

“One of the multitude said to him, ‘Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me.’ But he said to him, ‘Man, who made me a judge or divider (κριτὴν ἢ μεριστὴν) over you?’ And he said to them, ‘Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.’ And he told them a parable, saying, ‘The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward/for God (εἰς θεὸν).’” (Lk 12: 13-21)

Why is Christ refusing to be “a judge or divider” over these two brothers? Doesn’t Christ come to judge the living and the dead, and to divide the sheep from the goats? Yes, but it is not our material possessions that He judges and divides. So, our Lord calls us to manage our material concerns in the light of a higher concern, a concern for becoming “rich toward/for God.”Apparently, between these two brothers there is a self-seeking and self-serving focus, which is “coveting” material possessions, rather than a God-seeking and God-serving focus. This is why they can’t manage peaceably to divide their inheritance; instead, it seems to be dividing them. 

Our Lord warns us against that kind of self-focused pursuit of material possessions, which is closed in on ourselves, rather than open to others. While He does help me provide for my “daily bread,” He does not help me turn my financial concerns into a self-isolated and self-serving fortress, as did the rich man who built the large barns. So let me not be afraid of the vulnerabilities of a faith-inspired, God-focused attitude toward my financial responsibilities, whatever they may be. And let me do the next right thing today, responsibly, regarding my financial matters, in the Spirit of forgiveness of myself and others.“Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” Amen!

Reflection on Today's Feast

 

Image source: legacyicons.com

The Nuclear Family in Liturgical Perspective - Reflections on the Feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple - by Grace Hibshman

***Grace Hibshman is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Notre Dame, where she teaches virtue ethics and writes about forgiveness. She and her husband attend St. Elizabeth the New Martyr Orthodox Church in Chesterton, IN.

Our current culture wars tend to divide people into two camps. In the one camp, there are those in favor of abortion, gay marriage, no-fault divorce, transgender identities, etc. In response, the other camp tends to indiscriminately champion the traditional nuclear family. The Church often gets lumped into the latter camp; however, she hasn’t always operated out of our current cultural categories.

It is an under–appreciated fact that every year the Church asks us to commemorate the separation of a nuclear family. During the Feast of the Entrance of the Theotokoks into the Temple, we celebrate the faithfulness of Joachim and Anna, who offered their three-year-old daughter—their only daughter, for whom they prayed for many years—to be raised in the Temple by other people. The hymns do not depict them grieving, however. Rather, they describe them dancing and leaping for joy. And we, as a Church, join them in their gladness.

But while the hymns never ascribe sorrow to Joachim and Anna, they do to the mothers amongst us:

Today let us, the arrays of the assembled faithful, triumph in spirit…Ye mothers, setting aside every sorrow, follow them in gladness, singing the praises of her who became the mother of God… 

Mothers today do not give away their toddlers to be raised at church, but from the first time a mother brings her child to church, she is asked to literally give her child up. The priest takes them from her hands, lays them on the floor in front of the altar, and leaves them there alone before God. When the child is baptized and Chrismated, the parents will hand their child off again, this time to the godparents. For many adult converts, Chrismation marks an even starker departure from family. 

Some icons of the Entrance (such as the one below) depict the event like a Chrismation. The parents, Joachim and Anna, stand back. Instead of them, two sponsors holding candles escort Mary to the priest, who welcomes her to a red altar flanked by what look to be royal doors. Inside the sanctuary, a piece of bread, fashioned conspicuously like prosphora, is fed to her literally “upborn by an angelic host.”

The readings for the feast day explicitly challenge the primacy of family. The Gospel features the story of Mary and Martha. Martha entreats Christ, “Do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?” (Lk. 10:40, NKJV) Christ affirms that Mary has chosen the one thing needful, which (unlike family) shall never be taken away from her. Appended to this story is Christ’s later exchange with the woman who declared “Blessed is the womb that bore You.” (Lk. 11:27) In response, he declares “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” (Lk. 11:28) The psalm verses between the epistle and the Gospel features verses from Ps. 44, including “Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear” (12a). The second half of that verse reads: “and forget thine own people and thine father’s house” (12b). 

But while the feast day challenges the primacy of family, it does not dismiss its importance. In the Gospel reading, Christ does not say that Mary should never help her sister Martha, nor does he deny that his mother is blessed for having born him. After churching and baptism, the newly born are handed back to their parents, and after Chrismation, the newly re-born usually still belong to their non-Orthodox families. The feast, after all, is a Marian feast and what makes Mary the Theotokos is that she gave birth to God in the flesh. It’s also a feast that celebrates Joachim and Anna, whom we commemorate in the Divine Liturgy as the “grandparents of God.” As we move through Advent into Christmas, the significance of Christ’s ancestry becomes even more central. At the beginning of Advent, we celebrate the Theotokos’departurefrom her parents, but the last Sunday of Advent the Gospel reading is none other than the genealogy of Christ, i.e., his family tree. Central to the mystery we celebrate at Christmas is the reality that God was born into a human family, with parents and grandparents and great grandparents.

It would be a mistake therefore to think that the Church were saying that biological family is unimportant. I have two theories about what she is saying instead. The first is that earthly family is not needful, by which I mean that to be blessed, you don’t need to have a certain kind of family, nor does having a certain kind of family necessarily make you blessed. Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it, which includes sheltering the widows and orphans, the afflicted and the poor.

The second is that the life of the family is only blessed insofar as it is ordered toward and within the greater family of the Church. Mary’s role in the Church included literal separation from her family, first from her parents, and later from her child. It also included her being betrothed to a man who was much older than her, which resulted in her becoming a widow. Most people’s vocations do not include this much separation from family. But on some level, every parent needs to give their child up to Christ and the Church. Likewise, every child needs to make the Church their true Mother and God their true Father.

___

A very "contemporary" and creative theological reflection on the Feast of the Entrance of the Mother of God Into the Temple. An "inclusive" reflection that supports the nuclear family and those outside of that reality.

Coffee With Sister Vassa: Reading the Old Testament in Light of the New

 

READING THE OLD TESTAMENT IN LIGHT OF THE NEW

“‘When these days are over it shall be, on the eighth day and thereafter, that the priests shall offer your burnt offerings and your peace offerings on the altar; and I will accept you,’ says the Lord God. Then He brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary which faces toward the east, but it was shut. And the Lord said to me, ‘This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter by it, because the Lord God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut…’” (Ezek 43: 27 – 44: 2)

This is one of the three Old-Testament readings at the Vespers-service of the Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple, celebrated tomorrow (NC). The three readings are called “Paremia-s” (паремии) in Slavonic, from the Greek word “παροιμία,” meaning “parable.” The readings are called “parables” in the context of this church-feast, because they are understood “allegorically” (the word allegory coming from the Greek words allos and agorevein, meaning “to interpret otherwise”). In the case of the passage from Ezekiel, quoted above, the “shut gate,” through which only the Lord God of Israel “has entered,” is understood otherwise, to signify the virginity of the Most-Holy Theotokos, by which the Son of God has entered this world. 

Thank you, Most-Holy Theotokos, for also being our “gate,” by which communion with God’s only-begotten Son, in the flesh, becomes possible for us. Thank you, for allowing yourself to be led into the Temple, through its gates, that you yourself may become the Gate and the Temple of the Lord in our midst. “Rejoice, through whom joy shall shine forth!”

____

A very timely reflection from Sister Vassa as we prepare to celebrate this feast this evening, with the Vesperal Liturgy beginning at 6:00 p.m. We will hear three "premiss" at the vesperal portion of the service, all pointing to the Theotokos as the fulfillment of OT prophecies. Looking forward to seeing you all there!

Coffee With Sister Vassa: God Breaks Down Our Walls

 

GOD BREAKS DOWN OUR WALLS

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who has made both (Jews and Gentiles) one, and has broken down the dividing wall, the hostility, in/by his flesh, abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are being built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” (Eph 2: 13-22)

This is what it’s all about, the whole business called “salvation.” It’s about being made whole again. All of us are God’s precious construction-project, “being built” gradually “into a holy temple,” and “joined together” from our fragmentation within ourselves and between one another, “in one Body through the cross.” I know, that’s a lot to take in, all in one sentence, but that is what it’s all about: growing into the unity of Christ’s one Body, in which each of us is being built into a dwelling place of God. This does not happen suddenly, but through His cross-carrying Way. It involves the abolishment of the “dividing walls” within and between us, which we might fear and resist, because we feel special and protected by the walls we tend to erect for ourselves. 

This morning I hand myself over to God, once again, surrendering my own, merely-human demands and expectations of myself and others, and let us“be built,” through the ups and downs of our different vocations and responsibilities. Thy will be done with all of us today, O Lord, our peace.

Coffee With Sister Vassa: Autumn & the Mystery of the Cross

 

AUTUMN & THE MYSTERY OF THE CROSS

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.’” (Mt 16: 24-25)

Autumn reminds me of what it means to take up one’s cross and follow Christ. It means to be like a tree, which surrenders to the kind of vulnerability that comes with shedding the old leaves, and standing bare for a while, in preparation for new life. We become witnesses to the Cross, we manifest the Cross, as do the bare trees throughout the winter, when we remain standing, in faith, throughout our losses and rejections. 

But sometimes I might miss this opportunity, to bear witness to the life-bringing Cross. I “miss the point” of my losses or rejections, when I respond to them not with faith in God’s growing-process for me, but by falling into resentment, self-centered fear, despondency or complacency, etc. Today let me be reminded that sometimes we need to stand bare for a while, to be left behind for a while, in patience and in faith, in our death-trampling Lord. He indeed “saves” our life and helps us “find” it; to find who we truly are, via the cross-carrying way. Let me embrace Your way this morning, Lord, choosing faith over fear. And let me do the next right thing as I remain standing, like a bare tree looking forward to the new life coming in the spring, rather than looking back at the losses or rejections that I cannot change.

____

Sister Vassa is practicing/reviving an old tradition: To look to the realm of nature and find hidden signs of the Gospel together with other theological insights. St. Tikhon of Zadonsk (+1783) has an entire book devoted to this type of spiritual literature. Old or new, her use of a tree in the Fall as a sign of taking up the Cross is an effective one and well-developed in her reflection!

From the Archives: Forty Shopping (and Fasting) Days Until Christmas

Image source: wikiart.org

 Here is a meditation from a few years back that I do not overly hesitate to send yet again, because the issues presented here for us to think hard about ("meditate" on), are certainly with us today and are far from being resolved: "There is nothing new under the sun." I hope everyone is prepared to make a real effort to embrace the forty-day Nativity Fast on a level that works for you and your family and that commits us to the life of the Church in a meaningful manner. If we are not prepared, perhaps what you read here will alert you to the Season we are now entering. 

~ Fr. Steven