'Wood is healed by Wood!' - The Tale of Two Trees

Dear Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,

As we anticipate and prepare for the Feast Day of the Elevation/Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord, perhaps a few words about the Cross might be appropriate.

The Feast of the Elevation of the Cross raises a myriad of themes - Biblical, historical, theological, etc. - for our meditation, to use that term. One such theme is what we call a typological reading of the Scriptures. This is a profound way of discovering the inner connection between persons, events, and places of the Old Testament - what we would call "types" - with their fulfillment as "antitypes" in the New Testament. Thus, Adam is a type of which Christ - the last Adam - is the antitype:  "Adam who was the type of the one who was to come" (ROM. 5:14).

Through typology we learn that the Old Testament can now be read as anticipating the Person of Christ and the saving events recorded in the New Testament, without undermining the integrity of the historical path of ancient Israel as the People of God entrusted by God with a messianic destiny. One such typological application is expressed in an intriguing and paradoxical manner through one of the hymns of the Feast of the Elevation of the Cross:

...For it is fitting that wood should be healed by wood, and that through the Passion of One who knew not passion should be remitted all the suffering of him who was condemned because of wood. (Sticheron, Great Vespers)

A truly wonderful phrase: "wood should be healed by wood!" Yet, what is this "wood" that is being referred to? How does wood "heal" wood? The wood in both instances is clearly the wood of two trees - the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil as found in GEN. 2; and the wood of the Tree of the Cross. In disobedience to the command of God, the man and woman of GEN. 2 - Adam and Eve - ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This was the one tree, the fruit of which, it was not safe for them to eat:

You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in that day that you eat of it you shall die. (GEN. 2:17)

The freedom and self-determination of the first man and woman were tested by this divine commandment. In a celebrated interpretation of this passage, St. Gregory the Theologian (+395) draws out the meaning of this command and its consequence:

[God gave Adam] a law as a material for his free will to act on. This law was a commandment as to what plants he might partake of and which one he might not touch. This latter was the tree of knowledge; not, however, because it was evil from the beginning when planted, nor was it forbidden because God grudged it to us - let not the enemies of God wag their tongues in that direction or imitate the serpent. But it would have been good if partaken of at the proper time. The tree was, according to my theory, contemplation, which is safe only for those who have reached maturity of habit to enter upon, but which is not good for those who are still somewhat simple and greedy, just as neither is solid food good for those who are yet tender and have need of milk. (Second Oration on Easter, 8)

This is also found in St. Athanasius the Great (+373)

Knowing once more how the will of man could sway to either side, in anticipation God secured the grace given to them by a command and by the place where he put them. For he brought them into his own garden and gave them a law so that, if they kept the grace and remained good, they might still keep the life in paradise without sorrow or pain or care, besides having the promise or incorruption in heaven. But if they transgressed and turned back and became evil, they might know that they were incurring that corruption in death that was theirs by nature, no longer to live in paradise but cast out of it from that time forth to die and abide in death and corruption. (On The Incarnation, 3.4.)

The theme of the initial innocence of Adam and Eve, their lack of maturity and need for spiritual growth and maturation was very characteristic of the Eastern Church Fathers, being found as early as St. Irenaeus of Lyons (+c. 200).

Therefore, the "wood" of this tree proved to be death-dealing, not because God made it such "in the beginning," but because it was partaken of in a forbidden manner and not "at the proper time."

Nothing created by God is evil by nature; rather, all is "very good." But misdirected free will can pervert the good into something that is evil. The gift of the promise of deification is a God-sourced gift, not a self-sourced gift. 

On the other hand, the Tree of the Cross is precisely the wood through which the first disobedience was undone by the One who died on it in obedience to the will of the Father. The Tree of Life that was in the Garden was the actual "type" of the Tree of the Cross on Golgotha. The last Adam - Christ - healed us of the sin of the first Adam. (As early as St. Justin the Martyr, it was taught that the Virgin Mary was the "new Eve" also because of her obedience to the Word of God). The Cross is therefore

... the blessed Wood, through which the eternal justice has been brought to pass. For he who by a tree deceived our forefather Adam, is by the Cross himself deceived; and he who by tyranny gained possession of the creature endowed by God with royal dignity, is overthrown in headlong fall. (Sticheron, Great Vespers)

According to a pious tradition, the place of the skull is the place where Adam was buried when he died. The blood that flowed from Christ "baptized" that skull as symbolic of the sons of Adam (and Eve) being given renewed and eternal life by the blood shed by Christ on the Cross - the Tree of Life.

The Tree of true life was planted in the place of the skull, and upon it hast Thou, the eternal King, worked salvation in the midst of the earth. Exalted today, it sanctifies the ends of the world... (Litiya, Great Vespers)

"Wood is healed by Wood!" This is the good news revealed in the typological interpretation found in the liturgical hymns of the Feast of the Elevation of the Cross together with the biblical exegesis of the Church Fathers. This is why we honor and venerate the Cross by literally bowing down before it in adoration. The Cross was at the heart of the proclamation of the Gospel, a instrument of shame in the ancient world. But this did not deter the Apostle Paul from proclaiming that Gospel as the power of God:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (ROM. 1:16)

We also cannot be "ashamed" of the Tree of the Cross through which "joy has come into the world."

Fr. Steven

 

Coffee With Sister Vassa: THE SCANDAL OF THE CROSS

Coffee With Sister Vassa THE SCANDAL OF THE CROSS   “And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offence/scandal of the cross (τὸ σκάνδαλον τοῦ σταυροῦ) has ceased. I could wish that those who trouble you (about circumcision) would even cut themselves off! For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another! I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” (Gal 5: 11-18) Those who “troubled“ the Galatians were dragging them into divisive, biting, and ultimately church-destructive arguments and concerns. These were concerns not of the Spirit, but of the flesh; concerns about the externals of the Law, made obsolete by “the scandal of the cross.” St. Paul urges them, and us, when we’re being dragged down into unnecessary battles with one another on the hot-button issues of the day, and away from the scandal of the Cross and its liberating “walk in the Spirit”: flee to the higher ground, he says, of “serving one another through love”. Let me not be “troubled” today, nor bullied into concerns that are of the flesh, however noble or just or patriotic they seem this election year. “For you have been called to liberty,” the Apostle reminds me today. I am free to decide to love, both myself and my neighbor, and my neighbor as myself, rather than remain stuck in anger.

The Synaxis of Sts. Joachim and Anna

 

Dear Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ, "Rejoice, O divinely chosen pair who gave birth to her who would become the Mother of One of the Trinity!"    (Akathist to the Righteous Joachim and Anna) On the day following the Feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos – today, September 9 – we commemorate the “ancestors of God,” Joachim and Anna, the father and mother of the Virgin Mary according to the Tradition of the Church. This is a consistent pattern within our festal and liturgical commemorations: On the day after a particular feast, we commemorate the persons who are an integral part of that feast day’s events. For example, the day after Theophany we commemorate St. John the Baptist; and on the day after Nativity, we commemorate the Theotokos. Therefore, because of the (obviously!) essential role of Joachim and Anna in the current Feast of the Virgin Mary’s Nativity, September 9 is the “Synaxis of Joachim and Anna” and we thus bring them to mind in an effort to discern and meditate upon their important place in this festal commemoration. The source of their respective roles is the Protoevangelion of James, a mid 2nd c. document. As Archbishop Ware has written: The Orthodox Church does not place the Protoevangelion of James on the same level as Holy Scripture: it is possible, then, to accept the spiritual truth which underlies this narrative, without necessarily attributing a literal and historical exactness to every detail.  One of those “spiritual truths” alluded to by Archbishop Ware is the account of both Joachim and Anna continuing to pray with faith and trust in God’s providence even though they were greatly discouraged over the “barrenness” of Anna. This is no longer our perception today, for not being able to have a child is hardly a sign of "barrenness!" And it also implies that this is a "woman's" problem, thus disengaging the man's role in the process of conception. Yet, it is true that a lack of children in ancient Israel could easily be taken for a sign of God’s displeasure, thus hinting at hidden sins that deserve rebuke. Though disheartened, they continued to place their trust in God, refusing to turn away from God though thoroughly tested as to their patience. Perseverance in prayer in the face of discouragement is a real spiritual feat that reveals genuine faith. The conception and then birth of the Virgin Mary reveals the joyous outcome of their faith and trust in God. Perhaps this is why we commemorate Joachim and Anna as the “ancestors of God” at the end of every Dismissal in our major liturgical services, including the Divine Liturgy: We seek their prayers as icons of an everyday faith that is expressed as fidelity, faith and trust in God’s Law and providential care. Joachim and Anna could also be witnesses to a genuine conjugal love that manifests itself in the conception and birth of a new child. Their union is an image of a “chaste” sexual love that is devoid of lust and self-seeking pleasure. The strong ascetical emphases of many of our celibate saints may serve to undermine or obscure the blessings of conjugal love as envisaged in the Sacrament of Marriage. In fact, through its canonical legislation going back to early centuries, the Church has struggled against a distorted asceticism that denigrates sexual love even within the bonds of marriage as a concession to uncontrollable passions. The Church is not “anti-sex.” But the Church always challenges us to discern the qualitative distinction between love and lust. The icon of the embrace of Joachim and Anna outside the gates of their home as they both rush to embrace each other following the exciting news that they would indeed be given a child, is the image of this purified conjugal love that will result in the conception of Mary, their child conceived as all other children are conceived. The Feast of the Nativity of Our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos has four days of Afterfeast, thus ending with the Leavetaking on September 12. That allows us to then prepare for the Feast of the Elevation of the Cross on September 14!

Coffee With Sister Vassa: 'BE ANGRY AND DO NOT SIN'

Coffee With Sister Vassa

“BE ANGRY AND DO NOT SIN”

 

“Therefore, putting away lying, ‘Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,’ for we are members of one another. ‘Be angry, and do not sin’: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.” (Eph 4: 25-27)

On the one hand, the Apostle says: “Be angry, and do not sin,” (quoting the Septuagint-version of Ps 4: 5). But then he tells us to keep this anger short, and “not let the sun go down on” it. So, anger, which is not the same thing as hostility, is something we can engage productively, albeit briefly. Why, and how?

Anger is not a sin per se, but rather a God-given kind of spark, attributed also to the Lord (e.g., Mk 3: 5). It is not to be abused to ignite (self-) destructive hostility, say, in the direct form of an act of violence or revenge, or in the indirect forms of sarcasm, gossip, or passive obstructiveness. It should rather be a signal to ourselves and others, which, when conveyed and read properly, can be the impetus for productive discernment and discussion of the cause of it. And by “productive” I mean, the kind of conversation that is truthful and specific to the actual cause of our anger, “putting away lying,” as the Apostle says above, which can effect the removal of the true cause of our anger. 

If I notice myself getting angry today, let me first recognize and accept this anger. Then let me explore, in honesty and humility, and “putting away lying,” the underlying reasons for my anger. Was my angry outburst, perhaps, masking some kind of fear, like the fear of having lost control or being powerless over a situation, by lending me some sense of power and control? Let me let God into this picture, if this is the case with me, and re-embrace faith in Him, as in the One in control. Lord, You know what You’re doing with all of us, in Your mercy and grace. Let me do the next right thing today, to address any “signals” of anger productively, in Your truth, so that I don’t nurture them into quietly-destructive, little bonfires of resentment in my heart, or “give place to the devil” there. Let me do what I need to do; say what I need to say, and move on. “Be angry, and do not sin’: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.”

_____

From the early centuries of the Church's life, some of the great "masters" of the spiritual life - often the Desert Fathers - understood anger as a passion that needed to be "educated" rather than "eradicated." Meaning, can the energy behind anger be redirected toward our own sinfulness, to use one example? Or in reaction to the injustice of the world? We remember that the Lord's anger was directed at those who were making his Father's house a "den of thieves." Sister Vassa is offering her usual insightful advice of looking inward at ourselves, rather than outward at others. And that is always a challenge.

 

Coffee With Sister Vassa: PRAYING THE CREED

Coffee With Sister Vassa

PRAYING THE CREED

 

“I believe in God, the Father almighty…” (Beginning of the Apostles’ Creed)

I once read in an interview with the late John McCain, the U.S. senator from Arizona, that he scratched these seven words from the beginning of “The Apostles’ Creed” on a wall of his tiny cell in Vietnam, where he was imprisoned and tortured for over five years. These words, this profession of faith in “God, the Father almighty,” were an important part of what kept him going in a life-threatening situation.

How many of us really pray the Creed, – either this one, or the Nicene-Constantinopolitan one, more commonly used in our Orthodox Church, – and recognize its life-sustaining power, in the face of fear? Few of us have the experience of a John McCain, but many of us know the prison that is fear, which envelops us so easily when we abandon faith. 

I’m reminded today that we have very powerful, life-affirming tools in our Tradition, like the Creed, which can lift us out of fear and re-connect us with Life. “I believe in one God, the Father almighty, Maker of all things, visible and invisible,” I say today, from the bottom of my heart, as so many have said before me, and also say with me today, amidst their fears and worries. I need not be alone in any prison today, because I can re-connect with the Triune God and others, in what is greater and beyond the walls of any prison-cell, which is faith in Him. It is also hope. It’s hope in the new life He can bring us daily through the cross-carrying Way: “I look for the resurrection of the dead,” which happens daily when we rise after our falls, “and the life of the age to come,”which is always coming, and occasionally breaking into even the darkest of our places.

_____

In 2025, we will celebrate the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed (325-2025). That means that The Creed has real "staying power," as a concise statement of the Church's universal and timeless Faith. Actually, the Creed was completed at the Second Ecumenical Council in 381, but the basis of the Creed was established in Nicea in 325, when the great breakthrough in theological terminology strengthened the Church's claim to the co-eternal status of the Son in His relationship with the Father within the life of the Trinity. And that term was homoousios ("of one [identical] essence") We will spend a good time next year reviewing the Nicene Creed in honor of that anniversary. 

I am glad that Sister Vassa turned to the late Senator John McCain as the image of a true hero who withstood the horrors of being a prisoner during the Vietnam War. I did not know this deeply-moving fact about his use of the opening of the Apostle's Creed as a statement of personal faith that sustained him during that most trying of times. John McCain returned to public life as a very honorable and respected political figure. He was an image of political integrity throughout his long career.  

Coffee With Sister Vassa: ACCEPTING GOD’S INVITATION

Coffee With Sister Vassa

ACCEPTING GOD’S INVITATION

 

“And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a marriage feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the marriage feast; but they would not come… they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business...” (Mt 22: 1-3,5)

Why does our Lord compare His kingdom to a marriage feast? Because marriage is a sacrament of unity, just like the Church is a sacrament of unity, which it “takes a village” to celebrate and sustain. It involves choosing to enter into unity with another or others, and suiting up and showing up (in appropriate dress) for that, rather than choosing to remain on our own, doing our own thing. The latter can be more comfortable for us, especially if we are like those in the parable who were the first to be invited. They had their own farm and business, so these were busy people.

Why does the king in the parable invite the super-busy people first? Probably because they really need to take a break from their own thing and do the king’s thing, for Him and others. When we become too busy to dedicate some time to communion with God and others, it’s a tap on the shoulder that we need to press Pause. Perhaps being too busy for God is not so much an objective reality as a state of mind? I think it’s not necessarily coming from a disrespect for God, as if He doesn’t matter. It sometimes comes from a subtle self-disrespect, from thinking I don’t matter to Him (and others); whether or not I am there, at the common banquet, or how I am dressed if I’m there, doesn’t matter. 

But the Lord is saying in this parable that I do matter, because God continues to go to the trouble of inviting me to join the “feast” of communion with Him and others. This “feast” happens not just in church, but daily, when I’m called for a time out to participate in some God-time and in other-people’s time, according to my responsibilities. He asks only that I show up in decent dress like any self-respecting person.

Happy Monday and Labor Day (if you're in the US), dear Friends!