Saturday, August 9, 2025

St. Herman of Alaska

Source: uncutmountainsupply.com

 Glorification of Ven. Herman of Alaska, Wonderworker of All America

Faith and love of Christ make a true Christian. Our sins in no way hinder our Christianity, as we can tell from the words of our Savior Himself. He stated that He had not been called to judge the righteous but to save the sinful—there is more joy in heaven at one sinner who repents than at ninety-nine righteous men.

And He also said to Simon the Pharisee, about the woman who was a sinner and washed his feet: much is forgiven to those who love and much is asked of those who have no love. Such thoughts should give the Christian hope and joy and not lead to utter desperation. This is where the shield of faith is needed.

A sin for a person loving God is nothing more than an arrow fired by an enemy during battle. The true Christian is a warrior, fighting his way through hosts of unseen foes to his place in heaven. For, in the words of the Apostle, our kingdom is in heaven, and about the warrior he says: our battle is not with flesh and blood, but with ideas and authorities.

—St. Herman of Alaska, Alaskan Missionary Spirituality

Friday, August 8, 2025

Dormition Fast Reflection - Afterfeast of the Transfiguration

 

Source: uncutmountainsupply.com

Do evil to nobody nor keep any evil in your heart against anyone. Do not belittle a wrong-doer; do not be influenced by one who does wrong to his neighbor. Do not slander anybody but say: “God knows each one.” Do not agree with one who slanders; neither rejoice with him in his slandering nor hate him who slanders his neighbor—and this is “judge not [that you be not judged”] (Lk. 6.37). 

Do not be at enmity with anybody and do not foster enmity in your heart; do not hate one who is at enmity with his neighbor—and this is peace. Console yourself with this: there is labor for a short while then repose for eternity, by the grace of the divine Word. Amen.

—Abba Moses, Give Me a Word: The Alphabetical Sayings of the Desert Fathers

Thursday, August 7, 2025

Dormition Fast reflection - Afterfeast of the Transfiguration

 

Source: uncutmountainsupply.com

Christianity is not reconciliation with death. It is the revelation of death, and it reveals death because it is the revelation of Life. Christ is this Life. And only if Christ is Life is death what Christianity proclaims it to be; namely, the enemy to be destroyed, and not a “mystery” to be explained.

Religion and secularism, by explaining death, give it a “status,” a rationale, make it “normal.” Only Christianity proclaims it to be abnormal and, therefore, truly horrible. In the light of Christ, this world, this life are lost and beyond mere “help,” not because there is fear of death in them, but because they have accepted and normalized death.

—Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann, For the Life of the World

Reflection on the Theotokos

Source: uncutmountainsupply.com

 This is a follow-up from the passage I shared on Tuesday from Met. Kallistos Ware's essay on "The Dormition of the Theotokos." In this next paragraph, he focuses on the uniqueness of the Virgin Mary, who is the Theotokos.

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The Holy Virgin is unique in the sense that there has been only one Divine Incarnation, and so there can be only one Mother of God. Throughout the entire history of the world, both past and future, only once has a baby been born who, while entirely human, is also the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, 'true God from true God;' and so throughout the entire history of the world, both past and future, only once has there been a woman who was  chosen to be, in the literal and physical sense, Birthgiver of God. Spiritually, it is true, we are all of us called to give birth to God in our hearts; but in the later case we are speaking of a maternity that is mystical, not physical.

... By virtue of her Divine Maternity, her life was conformed to his in every possible respect, due allowance being made, of course, for the all-important point of differentiation that he is the only-begotten Son of God, divine by nature, whereas she is a created human person, divinized by grace.

Wednesday, August 6, 2025

St. Maximus on the Transfiguration

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August 6, 2025

The Holy Transfiguration of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ

The Lord does not always appear in glory to all who stand before Him. To beginners He appears in the form of a servant (Phil. 2.7); to those able to follow Him as He climbs the high mountain of His transfiguration He appears in the form of God, the form in which He existed before the world came to be (John 17.5).

It is therefore possible for the same Lord not to appear in the same way to all who stand before Him, but to appear to some in one way and to others in another way, according to the measure of each person’s faith.

When the Logos of God becomes manifest and radiant in us, and His face shines like the sun, then His clothes will also look white. That is to say, the words of the Gospel will then be clear and distinct, with nothing concealed. And Moses and Elijah—the more spiritual principles of the Law and the Prophets—will also be present with Him.

—St. Maximos the Confessor, Second Century on Theology

Give Now 

Cultivating the Image of Divine Beauty

 

Source: uncutmountainsupply.com

On August 6, we celebrate the Transfiguration of Christ, with the Leavetaking of the Feast on August 13.

The mysterious presence of Beauty is revealed on Mt. Tabor in an overwhelming manner when Christ is transfigured there resplendent in divine glory. This is the beauty of the first-formed human creatures, created to reflect the beauty of the divine nature, for by grace they - and we - were created in the image and likeness of God. And they were placed in a world that also reflected this divine beauty. That is why God, after completing the creation process, declared that is was all "very good."

Yet, the presence of sin marred that beauty. This lost beauty was restored to humanity when the Son of God assumed our human nature, uniting it to His divine Person and revealing the glory of God in a human being. Thus, on Mt. Tabor, Christ reveals the beauty of His divine nature and the beauty of our created human nature. This is why the Transfiguration is often referred to as a Feast of Beauty.


The Russian novelist Dostoevsky (+1881) famously and somewhat enigmatically once said:  "Beauty will save the world." Yet, Dostoevsky also realized that in a world filled with sin, beauty can evoke responses that fall short of any saving value. In fact, beauty can even degenerate toward sin and sensuality, as one of Dostoevsky's greatest creations, Dmitri Karamazov, acknowledged with great anguish. 

Therefore, for Dostoevsky beauty itself had to be "saved" and linked to Truth and Goodness. Thus, for the Russian novelist, beauty is not simply an aesthetic concept, but one that must have a moral, ethical and spiritual dimension for it to be rightly perceived and experienced. And for Dostoevsky as well as for not only great artists, but the great minds of the Church, beauty is not an abstract concept or Idea. Beauty is a Person, and this Person is Christ. In Christ, Truth, Goodness and Beauty are harmoniously united. This is why Dostoevesky also spoke of the "radiant image of Christ." In another famous passage from his pen, found in a letter of his, Dostoevsky articulated his personal "creed:"

I have constructed for myself a symbol of faith in which everything is clear and holy for me. The symbol is very clear, here it is: to believe that there is nothing more beautiful, profounder, more sympathetic, more reasonable, more courageous and more perfect than Christ and not only is there nothing , but I tell myself with jealous love that never could there be.

It is these qualities that make Christ such an attractive figure that a well-disposed mind and heart not unduly influenced by the marks of a fallen world will almost naturally turn to as an "ideal," but again as a concrete living Person. There is a passage from Fr. Alexander Elchaninov (+1934), taken from his personal diary after his death, that captures that same intuition as found in Dostoevsky:

It is impossible not to love Christ. If we saw Him now, we should not be able to take our eyes off Him, we should "listen to him in rapture;" we should flock round Him as did the multitudes in the Gospels. All this is required of us is not to resist. We have only to yield to Him, to the contemplation of His image - in the Gospels, in the saints, in the Church - and He will take possession of our hearts.

Here, again, there is an inherent moral, ethical and spiritual dimension from that beauty that flows outward from Christ. This is rendered in the form of very practical and concrete advice in the words of Vladimir Solovyov (+1900), for many the greatest Russian philosopher known to us:

Before any important decision, let us evoke in our soul the image of Christ. Let us concentrate our attention upon it and ask ourselves: Would He Himself do this action? Or, in other words: Will He approve of it or not?
To all I propose this rule: it does not deceive. In every dubious case, as soon as the possibility of a choice is offered to you, remember Christ. Picture to yourself His living Person, as it really is, and entrust Him with the burden of your doubts.
Let human beings of good will, as individuals, as social factors, as leaders of men, women and peoples, apply this criterion, and they will really be able, in the name of truth, to show to others the way toward God.

This concreteness is all the more interesting, for Solovyov was often a highly speculative thinker. That what he wrote just over a century ago is hardly a public ideal any longer is to our great loss. It is our role to maintain and cultivate the image of divine beauty in our lives as seen in the face of the incarnate Christ as a sacred obligation.

Tuesday, August 5, 2025

The Virgin Mary - Singular and Universal

Source: uncutmountainsupply.com

As we move through the relatively short Dormition Fast, we have the opportunity to "think hard" about the role of the Virgin Mary within the divine oikonomia. No better guide to assist us in this endeavor than Metropolitan Kallistos Ware (+2022). In a brilliant article of his entitled "The Dormition of the Theotokos," he offers the following insight. His writing is always distinguished by clarity and depth.

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The Holy Virgin's place in the scheme of salvation may be interpreted in two ways. These are to be seen not as alternatives but as complementary; both approaches are needed. And in both cases her role is to be understood as strictly 'under Christ,' who is as much her Savior as he is Savior of the rest of the human race (see Lk. 1:47). First, Mary may be seen as unique, that is to say, as distinct from all other members of the human race, and called to fulfill a vocation never assigned in the whole of history to any other person on this earth. Second, she may be seen as our archetype and representative, that is to say, as the model and pattern of what we are all intended to be, as the fullest and highest example - next to her Son, and solely through his grace and power - of what it is to be human. These two manners of approaching the mystery of the Theotokos - in terms of her singularity and her universality - may be applied to all the main moments of her earthly life, and not least to her final glorification.

Monday, August 4, 2025

(Guest) Monday Morning Meditation

Source: store.ancientfaith.com

At the Liturgy yesterday, the homily focused on the Multiplication of the Loaves and the Feeding of the Multitude (Matt. 14:14-22). This led further to speaking about the Eucharist. Therefore, I would like to share these comments below by one of our new catechumens, Sarah Emerick, and her initial experience of the Divine Liturgy.

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One reason I want to become Orthodox is because the Divine Liturgy is the first worship experience where I’ve felt the veil between Heaven and earth is thinnest. I truly believe the persons in the icons I venerate are present there with me. The Divine Liturgy is a place where I feel removed from time, from culture, from the crushing weight of the human experience. I feel that I have one foot in this reality, and the rest of me is participating to my utmost ability in the coexisting Kingdom of God that I know is present all around us, although unseen. The Divine Liturgy makes real something I have always felt to be true, the Kingdom of God is at hand, it actually is already here, all around us.

Another reason I wish to become Orthodox is the incorporation of the whole body and the senses in worship. Everything matters, everything has meaning, from the way we sit, the way we stand, the way we make the Sign of the Cross, the words we use, the hymns we sing, etc. Everything is intentional, everything is deeply rooted in tradition and connects us with the two-millennium’s worth of Orthodox Christians that have come before us. 

Although deeply rooted traditions are present, there is also this feeling of personal freedom when it comes to worship as an Orthodox. It is a beautiful juxtaposition of communal tradition and spiritual individuality. Speaking of individuality, the final reason I will comment on why I want to become Orthodox is its insistence on the beauty and dignity of each individual person. The Orthodox faith doesn’t hijack the phrase “dignity of human life” to merely push their political anti-abortion agenda. It’s been made clear to me over my months of inquiry that honoring the dignity of a human person means honoring every. single. person. Full stop. End of.

The Orthodox faith is so much more open, incredibly loving, and inviting than I ever gave it credit for. Thought, not because I ever thought ill of the Orthodox Church, I just didn't have the exposure. I was prepared to be turned away when I first began attending Christ the Savior/Holy Spirit for many reasons: I am not cradle Orthodox, and I'm in no way Eastern European. However, none of those things matters and I was welcomed and cherished beyond what I could have hoped for.

Sunday, August 3, 2025

A Dormition Meditation

Source: uncutmountainsupply.com

 St. Vladimir's Orthodox Seminary Meditation

August 3, 2025

Behold the Virgin, the daughter of Adam and Mother of God: because of Adam she commits her body to the earth, but because of her Son she gives her body to the heavenly tabernacle above. Let the holy city be blessed! Let it enjoy blessing upon blessing forever!

Let the angels go before the holy tent as it passes on; let them prepare her tomb carefully! Let the radiance of the Spirit beautify it! Let perfume be made ready, to anoint that wholly spotless, wholly fragrant body. Let a pure wave come and bathe it in blessings from the pure spring of blessing. “Let the earth rejoice” (Ps. 96.11), as her body is laid to rest; let the air leap as her spirit ascends!

Let the breezes blow, filled with grace as soft as dew! Let all creation celebrate the ascent of the Mother of God!

—John of Damascus, Monk and Presbyter, A Discourse on the Dormition of Our Lady, the Mother of God, Homily III

Friday, August 1, 2025

Fragments for Friday - Embracing the Tradition

 

Source: uncutmountainsupply.com

On August 1, we commemorate the Seven Holy Maccabee Children, Solomone their mother, and Eleazar their teacher, all of whom were put to death in the year 168 BC. As such, they were protomartyrs before the time of Christ and the later martyrs of the Christian era. They died because they refused to reject the precepts of the Law when ordered to do so by the Syrian tyrant Antiochus Epiphanes IV. 

After conquering the Holy Land, Antiochus wanted to subvert the uniqueness of the Jews and force them to assimilate to the standards and practices of the prevailing Hellenistic culture. By attacking the precepts of the Law, Antiochus was aiming to destroy the very heart of Judaism. The Jews would then become like the “other nations,” and perhaps their smoldering resentment against their conquerors would be extinguished. This, of course, did not happen, because the Maccabean revolt, led by Judas Maccabaeus, not only resisted but expelled the Hellenized Syrian invaders and restored the Kingdom of Israel to its former glory days one last time (142 - 63 BC) before the Romans under Pompey reduced the Kingdom of Israel to a conquered province.

To return to the story of the Maccabees, we find them, under the guidance of their teacher Eleazar, resisting the decree that they eat pork, which was prohibited by the Law. Understanding that this was a threat against their entire traditional way of life, Eleazor refused and was subsequently tortured until he died. He was simply asked to “pretend” to eat the meat, so as to encourage others to do so. In reply, his dying words as recorded in the first book of Maccabees eloquently attest to his fidelity to the Law of God: 

"Send me quickly to my grave. If I went through with this pretense at my time of life, many of young might believe that at the age of ninety Eleazar had turned apostate. If I practiced deceit for the sake of a brief moment of life, I should lead them astray and bring stain and pollution on my old age. I might for the present avoid man’s punishment, but, alive or dead, I shall never escape from the hands of the Almighty. So if I now die bravely, I shall show that I have deserved my long life and leave the young a fine example to teach them how to die a good death, gladly and nobly, for our revered and holy laws."

Following the death of Eleazar, the seven Maccebee brothers and their mother Salomone were arrested. They were also tortured for refusing to eat pork, and one of them said:  “We are ready to die rather than break the laws of our fathers” (2 Maccabees 7:2). 

Enraged by such pious resistance, the tyrant ordered that all seven brothers be tortured by various inhuman means. All of this was witnessed by their mother, who watched all seven of her sons perish in a single day. Acting “against nature,” she encouraged her children “in her native tongue” to bravely withstand the assaults on their tender flesh: 


"You appeared in my womb, I know not how; it was not I who gave you life and breath and set in order your bodily frames. It is the Creator of the universe who molds man at his birth and plans the origin of all things. Therefore he, in his mercy, will give you back life and breath again, since now you put his laws above all thought of self” (2 Maccabees 7:22-23).

We find in her last sentence, a clear allusion to belief in the resurrection from the dead.

Especially poignant is the death of her last and youngest son. He was promised riches and a high position if he only agreed to “abandon his ancestral customs.” Salomone his mother was urged to “persuade her son,” which she did in the following manner: 

“My son, take pity on me. I carried you nine months in the womb, suckled you three years, reared you and brought you up to the present age. I beg you, child, look at the sky and the earth; see all that is in them and realize that God made them out of nothing, and that man comes into being in the same way. Do not be afraid of this butcher; accept death and prove yourself worthy of your brothers, so that by God’s mercy I may receive you back again along with them” (2 Maccabees 7:27-29).

In verse 28, we hear the clearest declaration of the belief that God creates “ex nihilo”—from nothing—in the entire Old Testament.

The youngest of the brothers then died after both witnessing to the meaning of their martyrdom and warning the tyrant of his own inevitable fate: 

“My brothers have now fallen in loyalty to God’s covenant, after brief pain leading to eternal life; but you will pay the just penalty of your insolence by the verdict of God. I, like my brothers, surrender my body and my life for the laws of our fathers” (2 Maccabees 7:36-37).

We then simply read, in verse 39, that “after her sons, the mother died.”

It is difficult to say to what extent we can actually relate to all of this today. We may deeply respect the devotion to the Law that is exhibited in this moving story of multiple matyrdoms—and perhaps be especially moved by the beautiful words of the mother that express our own belief in the creative power of God, His providential care for us and the ultimate gift of resurrection and eternal life with God—but this is far-removed from our contemporary Christian sensibilities. In fact, such devotion today could very well strike us as being overly zealous, if not fanatical. The prospects of such martyrdoms are not exactly on our radar screens. Be that as it may, I believe that we have something greater than mere passing importance that we can learn from this ancient story.

The spirit of the tyrant Antiochus Epiphanes is alive and well in the constant temptation we face to assimilate to the surrounding society and its mores, which are often reduced to finding the meaning of life in “eating, drinking and making merry.” There are no official decrees that demand that we abandon our Faith, but there is always a price to pay for comfortable conformity. We are hardly being asked to be martyrs but we are being asked to manifest some restraint and discipline in order to strengthen our inner lives. To live otherwise, we could place ourselves outside of the very received Tradition we claim to follow and respect. 

Older members of the community can bear in mind the words of Eleazar and realize that we are setting an example for our younger members. We are responsible for preparing the next generation. Mothers—and fathers!—can exhort their children in a way that is encouraging and not just demanding. This has nothing to do with mere “legalism,” but with a “way of life” that has been practiced for centuries by Orthodox Christians, and which is just as meaningful today as in the past.

And, as with the Seven Maccabee Children, it is ultimately a matter of choice.