From Mother Paula

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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

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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

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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

 

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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

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 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

Fr. Thomas Hopko: An Orthodox Understanding of Acts of Mercy

 

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At the Liturgy yesterday, we heard the Parable of the Good Samaritan. I wanted to find an appropriate response to the parable, as I chose to continue with a series of homilies focussing on the Apostle Paul's designated epistle reading. Here is an exceptionally fine piece by Fr. Thomas Hopko on "Acts of Mercy:"

Christ commanded his disciples to give alms. To "give alms" means literally "to do" or "to make merciful deeds" or "acts of mercy." According to the Scriptures the Lord is compassionate and merciful, longsuffering, full of mercy, faithful and true. He is the one who does merciful deeds (see Psalm 103).

Acts of mercy are an "imitation of God" who ceaselessly executes mercy for all, without exception, condition or qualification. He is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.

To "do mercy" means to do good to others in concrete acts of charity. It does not mean, in the first instance, to forgive, or to "let off sinners." A merciful person is one who is kind, gracious, generous and giving; a helper and servant of the poor and needy. For example, St. John the Merciful of Alexandria was a bishop who helped the poor and needy; he was not a judge who let off criminals.

Mercy is a sign of love. God is Love. A deed of merciful love is the most Godlike act a human being can do. "Being perfect" in Matthew's Gospel corresponds to "being merciful" in Luke's Gospel. "Perfection" and "being merciful" are the same thing.

To love as Christ loves, with the love of God who is Love, is the chief commandment for human beings according to Christianity. It can only be accomplished by God's grace, by faith. It is not humanly possible. It is done by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. One can prove one's love for God only by love for one's neighbors, including one's worst enemies, without exception, qualification or condition. There is no other way.

To love God "with all one's strength" which is part of "the first and great commandment" means to love God with all one's money, resources, properties, possessions and powers.

Acts of mercy must be concrete, physical actions. They cannot be "in word and speech, but in deed and truth" (First letter of John and letter of James).

Jesus lists the acts of mercy on which human beings will be judged at the final judgment (Parable of the Last Judgment in Matthew 25). Acts of mercy are acts done to Christ himself who was hungry, thirsty, naked, homeless, in prison and "sick" i.e. wounded for our transgressions on the Christ, taking up of our wounds, and dying our death.

Christian acts of mercy must be done silently, humbly, secretly, not for vanity or praise, not to be seen by men, "not letting the right hand know what the left hand is doing", etc.

Christian acts of mercy must be sacrificial. By this, we understand that we must not simply give to others what is left over. We have to be sharing our possessions with others in ways that limit ourselves in some way (The Widow's Mite).

Acts of mercy should be done without qualification or condition to everyone, no matter who, what or how they are (Parable of the Good Samaritan).

Christians, when possible, should do acts of mercy in an organized manner, through organizations and communities formed to do merciful deeds. Throughout its history the Christian people have had many forms of eleemosynary institutions and activities.

Being the poor Christians are not only to help the poor; they are themselves to be the poor, in and with Jesus Christ their Lord. Christians are to have no more than they actually need for themselves, their children and their dependents.

How much is enough? How much is necessary? What do we really need? How may we use our money and possessions for ourselves, our families, our children and our churches?

These are the hardest questions for Christians to answer.

The Bodiless Powers

 

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"All my angels praised Me!"

"Uplifted Godwards, from their beginning it has been the angels' greatest joy to choose freely for God and to give him their undaunted flow of life in unending love and worship." ~ Mother Alexandra

On November 8, we commemorate The Synaxis of the Archangel Michael and the Other Bodiless Powers. This gives us the opportunity to explore the Church's well-developed angelology. Orthodox theology reveals to us the fulness of all created reality, beginning with the realm of the bodiless powers: "When the stars were made, all my angels praised me with a loud voice." (Job 38:7) When we remove the angelic orders from our account of reality, we diminish our sense of wonder and our sense of "mystery" in the best sense of that word. I recall once, speaking with one of our parish’s Church School teachers about the nature of angels and how we convey this to our children. One of our first tasks, I believe, is to overcome the caricature that has developed over the centuries concerning the appearance and role of angels. (Do adults also need to be liberated from this same caricature?).

That caricature imagines angels to be puffy and fluffy “cherubs” that are basically rosy-cheeked floating babies. Cupid-like, they carry bows and arrows that appear harmless enough. They are often naked, but at times they appear to be covered in what can only be described as a celestial diaper. How these Hallmark card fantasies, based on Renaissance and Baroque-era deviations from the sacred and profound iconography of the earlier centuries both West and East, can be associated with the “Lord of Sabaoth” and the celestial hierarchy of angels that surround the throne of God with their unceasing chant of “Holy, Holy, Holy!” is something of an unfortunate mystery. In the words of Lev Gillette, a Monk of the Eastern Church: "There is nothing rosy or weakly poetical in the Angels of the Bible: they are flashes of the light and strength of the Almighty Lord." And in her wonderful book The Holy Angels, Mother Alexandra writes: "In a certain sense, if it can be so expressed, they are the individualized selfness of God's own attributes."

The Scriptures and the Holy Fathers only describe powerful celestial beings that serve God and fulfill His will for the well-being of the human race and our salvation. Angels are not eternal or immortal by nature. They are creatures, coming forth from the creative Word of God perfected by His Spirit. It was Saint Basil the Great, based on Job 38:7, as quoted above, who taught that angels were created even before the cosmos. These genderless beings are described by Saint Gregory the Theologian as “a second light, an effusion or participation in God, in the primal light.” 

Whenever a human being is visited by an angel and receives this heavenly messenger’s revelation, his or her first impulse is to bow down and worship this celestial visitor as a divine being! Warm and fuzzy feelings with any impulse toward cuddling and kissing are hardly implied in the biblical texts. It is again, Mother Alexandra who reinforces this: "Angels are of a superiority all but incomprehensible to us, but they are a part of our lives. By God's boundless mercy, they are destined, in the great moments of history, to be the heralds of the Most High to man below; they are, as well, our guides, guardians, mentor, protectors, and comforters from birth to the grave." Actually, our use of the term “angel” – based on the Greek angelos or “messenger”—is a generic term used to describe all of the many kinds of heavenly hosts described and named in the Scriptures. In fact, this celestial hierarchy, according to Saint Dionysios the Areopagite, is comprised of a triad of ranks, three angelic orders in each rank. The names are scriptural, but the triads have been conceived of by Saint Dionysios: 

• First Rank:  Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones (Is. 6:2; Ezek. 10:1; Col. 1:16)
• Second Rank:  Authorities, Dominions, Powers (Col. 1:16; I Pet. 3:22; Eph. 3:10)
• Third Rank:  Principalities, Angels, Archangels (Col. 1:16; I Thes. 4:15)

This structuring of the celestial hierarchy has had an enormous influence on the angelology of the Church.

Actually, Saint John Chrysostom tells us that even these names and “classes” do not exhaust the heavenly ranks of angelic beings: “There are innumerable other kinds and an unimaginable multitude of classes, for which no words can be adequate to express.” he writes. “From this we see that there are certain names which will be known then, but are now unknown.”

With his great ability to summarize and synthesize the Church’s living Tradition, Saint John of Damascus (+749) gives us this description of what an angel actually is in his Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. “An angel, then, is a noetical essence, perpetually in motion, with a free will, incorporeal, subject to God, having obtained by grace an immortal nature. The Creator alone knows the form and limitation of its essence.”

Admittedly, this is a very brief description of the true nature of the bodiless hosts of heaven, based on the Scriptures and the Fathers. Hopefully it will restore a genuine sense of awe and veneration before these incredible beings that only further amaze us with the creative power, energy and will of God.

Coffee With Sister Vassa: Don't Grow Weary of Doing Good

 

DON’T GROW WEARY OF DOING GOOD

“But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good. And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all.” (2 Thess 3: 13-16)

It's hard not to grow weary of doing good, especially if we are new to it, as were the recently-converted Thessalonians and hence might expect good-doing to be easy or “rewarding” in this-worldly ways. It’s also hard for us, not to tire of doing the little or big good thing we are doing, especially because of our culture of instant gratification. We probably tend to have an even smaller capacity for endurance and patience with ourselves and others, than did the ancient Thessalonians, when certain people or institutions remain indifferent or even hostile to our good-doing. We might develop a sort of Unrequited Love Syndrome, toward the people and institutions of our world. 

But St. Paul was no stranger to failure in his own ministry, which fell on deaf ears among his own people, or worse, led him to being kicked out of more than one city, and even worse, led him ultimately to prison and getting beheaded by his state authorities. His little flock in Thessaloniki was also dealing with institutional persecutions, but in the passage above he calls them to level-headedness with the annoying people in their own community. He does call the Thessalonians to “not keep company” with such brethren, but not to count them as enemies and to admonish them. That’s a difficult balance to strike, but today let us take heart and “not grow weary of doing good.” St. Paul says, as he knew from experience, “the Lord of peace Himself” can and does give us peace through our patience with ourselves and others. “The Lord be with you all,” he says to all of us this post-election season. Thank you, dear St. Paul, and please pray to God for all of us.

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A timely message from Sister Vassa. The moral landscape in our country has changed considerably in just the last generation or so. NOT doing good is being rewarded now, in a way that would have been inconceivable just a generation ago. This does not bode well for future generations, who are already cut off from a Christian moral vision  of life. As Christians, we need not reward moral turpitude. It is difficult "not to keep company" with those who abandon all moral and ethical norms, but even so, we can maintain our own moral dignity without succumbing to the temptation of awarding what is NOT good in our society today. May the Lord sustain us and bless us as we go forward into a challenging moral landscape.

The Woman with the Issue of Blood

 

Image source: https://oca.org

At the Liturgy this last Sunday, we heard the Gospel narrative of a miracle within another miracle. The raising of the daughter of Jairus, the synagogue ruler, is momentarily interrupted when Jesus encounters the woman with an issue of blood (Lk. 8:41-56). After Jesus heals her, and in the process praises her faith: "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace," he will go to the home of Jairus and bring his daughter back from the realm of the dead by and restoring her to her family, once "her spirit returned." Certainly two amazing and dramatic events. Studying this event through a contemporary biblical commentary, I always recall a statement by Brendan Byrne, a New Testament scholar who wrote a memorable sentence in his fine book, The Hospitality of God - A Reading of St. Luke's Gospel. In speaking of this woman's lack of place in the world of her day, Byrne wrote tellingly: "She is in many ways one of the most marginalized figures in the Gospel." Considering the level of human misery and suffering encountered in the Gospel, that is saying a great deal! And Byrne makes the case in the following succinct paragraph:

"In contrast to the influential ruler of the synagogue, how different the situation of this nameless woman (v. 43-48). As far as the community is concerned, she is as good as dead; according to Lev. 15:25-31, her condition renders her permanently unclean, and she in turn renders unclean any person or objects she touches. It is scarcely possible to grasp the loneliness and isolation of her situation - accentuated now by poverty, since she has spent all she had on physicians (v. 43)."

Loneliness and isolation are two conditions corrosive of a healthy personality. One can sink ever deeper into a debilitating depression. Are loneliness and isolation self-inflicted; or are they inflicted from without, from the icy disregard of a closed social order? The presence of the woman with an issue of blood, as we just read, was unwelcome, and thus she remained marginalized by the prejudice of her society, even if we acknowledge that isolation driven by adherence to the Law. We like to think that our social world is more tolerant today, and perhaps that is true. But perhaps the same kind of prejudice and marginalization is equally present today as then. We certainly have countless people in our midst today who are actually pushed off to the margins as human beings unwanted and uncared for. 

It is often the "other," the person we cannot relate to in his/her full and distinct humanity. The "other" is a person who embraces a life-style we consider sinful or aberrant; or someone who looks or speaks differently; or a "displaced person" entering into our world from outside (which is why Flannery O'Connor wrote that Jesus was just another DP). We are to assist persons to move in from the margins, not to stay out there in isolation. Jesus restored this woman to fellowship with her fellow countrymen. It is a noble task, worthy of the Gospel, to embrace, not to exclude. May the Lord give us the strength and vision to fulfill that ministry as we claim to serve and belong to Him.

Coffee With Sister Vassa: The Hole in the Heart

 

THE HOLE IN THE HEART

“For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Here indeed we groan (στενάζομεν), and long to put on our heavenly dwelling, so that by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened; not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.” (2 Cor 5: 1-5)

St. Paul is talking about the mystery of our bodily resurrection, in which we will be “further clothed” in a transfigured, resurrected body. What will that body be like? I don’t know. What I do know is that in my present-day body, or“earthly tent,” a part of me feels insufficient, as it “groans” and “longs to put on our heavenly dwelling,” as the Apostle observes here. It’s the God-given (or“God-shaped,” as some have said), hole in the heart. It’s the part of us that feels a bit sad, when encountering beauty, whether in music or nature or people, because we’re reminded we want more of it, and that there’s more of it, in the Source of Beauty Who is God. On the cross-carrying journey, in the Holy Spirit, this is not an unhappy or unhealthy kind of “groaning” and “longing.” In the light of faith, it is forward-looking and hopeful, as we say in the Creed: “I look for/expect the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the age to come.”Outside of faith, on the other hand, and outside a connection with God, the“hole in the heart” is a dark pit that looks into nowhere, and we might fill that void with merely-human anxiety or even dread.

Let me not ignore the hole in my heart today, but prayerfully expose it to God’s light, “so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life,”already in my here and now. Thank You, Lord, for shining Your presence on me today, and making me A-OK, even in my insufficiency.

Coffee With Sister Vassa: How Do We Celebrate The Saints?

 

HOW DO WE CELEBRATE THE SAINTS?

“…Woe to you! for you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. So you are witnesses and consent to the deeds of your fathers; for they killed them, and you build their tombs. Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’ that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it shall be required of (ἐκζητηθήσεται) this generation.” (Lk 11: 47-51)

How chilling, that in this series of “woes” on the Pharisees and lawyers, the Lord equates their “building the tombs of the prophets” with condoning the killing of the prophets. Clearly, our Lord knew that the usual meaning behind“building a tomb” of a prophet, – just like financing a church-building in honor of certain martyrs, – is to honor the martyrs, and not their killers or persecutors. But in the case of the “building-projects” of the Pharisees and lawyers, our Lord sees the hearts of the builders, filled not with the Spirit “Who spoke by the prophets,” but with enmity to Him and His truth-tellers, including Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Prophets that now stood before them, in the flesh, and Whom they intended to kill. 

So, in our Church’s reading for this November 1, when many Christians celebrate the feast of All Saints, I’m reminded of the fact that our external veneration of the saints is also to be aligned with being “on their side” in Spirit. I’m also reminded not to be discouraged in our day, when we see churches being erected by those who persecute the truth-tellers of our time; when we see how the Patriarch of our own church is building more and more new churches in Moscow, while defrocking and persecuting our truth-telling priests; while blessing the destruction of churches and people in Ukraine; while condoning the imprisonment and/or execution of journalists and others who testify against all this. But God doesn’t “forget” those He sends us, as Christ tells us above, however marginalized and forgotten they may be today, and just as we, ultimately, will not forget them, but will celebrate their memory. All Saints, pray to God for us!

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A timely reflection, indeed, from the indomitable Sister Vassa! A much-needed prophetic voice within the Church! Please be sure to read her final paragraph very carefully and all that it implies for the Church's witness - or is that lack of witness - to the world. When it comes to the Spirit-inspired saints, we need to be "on their side" as we read above - even when that is unpopular. Are "truth-tellers" becoming a  rare phenomenon? That would be a real loss, for that is the way of Christ.