Midweek Morning Meditation

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I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.

Nicene Creed

On Sunday, I continued with a series of homilies on the Nicene Creed, and the focus was on the Creed's declared belief in the "resurrection of the dead." Here is a succinct summary on that belief by Metropolitan Kallistos Ware from his book The Orthodox Way:

As Christians se believe not only in the immortality of the soul but in the resurrection of the body. According to God's ordinance at our first creation, the human soul and the human body are interdependent and neither can properly exist without the other. In consequence of the fall, the two are parted at bodily death, but this separation is not final and permanent. At the Second Coming of Christ, we shall be raised from the dead in our soul and in our body; and so, with should and body reunited, we shall appearbefore our Lord for the Last Judgement.

An Unfortunate Event

Source: uncutmountainsupply.com

The summit between President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, is now over. I am not sure what was actually accomplished, but that is not my present concern. There was a deeply unfortunate event that was peripheral to the two presidents meeting. And that was the OCA Archbishop of Alaska - Aleksei - cordially and warmly greeting Putin and exchanging pleasantries and icons with him. Vladimir Putin is the personal source behind the war in Ukraine that has caused unbelievable suffering and grief for literally millions of people. Currently, the International Crime Court (ICC) has issued a warrant for his arrest, for the crime of kidnapping about 20,000 Ukrainian children and deporting them to Russia. Watching the warm greeting between this dictator and an Orthodox Archbishop was a cause of deep disappointment and dismay for both presvytera and me. It is not as if Putin is a benign representative of the Russian Orthodox Church! 

Presvytera Deborah and I have written a joint letter to Metropolitan Tikhon to express our profound disagreement with what transpired in Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday (the Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God!). Presvytera and I made it clear that this was a personal letter from the two of us, and not written on behalf of the parish. 

This unfortunate event is pulsating throughout the OCA. I will assume that some members of the Church had no issues with this meeting, but many clergy and laity are angered and frustrated. I have already heard from them. It is time for the Church to speak out on behalf of the Gospel of Jesus Christ against war-mongering and the kidnapping of children. Silence in the face of such calculated injustice is unworthy of the Church. This cannot be hidden behind cordial greetings, pious rhetoric and the exchange of gifts. 

I encourage everyone to remain faithful to Christ and the Gospel. Christ is the Truth and that Truth will always ultimately prevail. Our Christian witness is to always choose to stand with Christ and the Gospel over all oppressive forces that seek to harm other innocent human beings. May the Lord strengthen us in that witness!

In Christ,

Fr. Steven 

Coffee With Sister Vassa - THE PARADOX OF THE DORMITION

It is good to hear from Sister Vassa again! Having been expelled from ROCOR, and even "defrocked" (I have no idea how a monastic is actually "defrocked") she is obviously under a great deal of pressure which see seems to manage with a great deal of gracefulness. Please join me in keeping her in your prayers.

_____

“In you the laws of nature (τῆς φύσεως οἱ ὅροι, естества уставы) are defeated, O pure Virgin: from virginity comes childbirth, and life is introduced by death. After bearing, a virgin, and after dying – living, ever saving, O Mother of God, your inheritance.” (Ode 9, Byzantine Canon of Dormition)

The Theotokos defies our usual expectations of physical reality, which is why we can call her life ‘paradoxical.’ The word ‘paradox’ (from the Greek words ‘para,’ meaning ‘beyond,’ and ‘dokeo,’ meaning ‘expect’) means something beyond our expectation; a kind of thing we would not expect, like a virgin giving birth, or life springing from death. We would also expect that she, as a Jewish woman of the first century, would necessarily be subject to some man, either her father or her husband. But this was not quite the case. Sure, she was assisted in her vocation by certain people, (as are we all), at different stages of her life. There were her parents, by whom she is led into the Temple, but really it is her vocation that *led them* to parent this daughter in the way that they did, in their old age. Then there were the priests in the Temple, by whom she is led to be betrothed to Joseph, in the earlier years, but we see that Joseph is led by her vocation, not the other way around, and not because she is bossy. God was leading the way. Finally, there is John the beloved disciple, whom she is told by the crucified Lord henceforth to “mother,” which is a position not of subjugation but of authority. No merely-human being ‘had’ the Mother of God in the sense that women at the time belonged to someone, which is a thing we would not expect. 

One sees in her cross-carrying journey, throughout which she is *obedient* to the vocation that came not from men but from God, that she remains free in her obedience, which is a paradox, because we might think that freedom and obedience don’t mix. Even after her dormition, we don’t ‘have’ her body to venerate as holy relics. It was taken up or ‘assumed’ (as the Roman Catholics call this) into heaven by her Son, because even death could not hold her physically. What is my point? Because the Mother of God is traditionally seen as an image ‘par excellence’ of the Mother-Church, her ‘paradoxical’ and liberating vocation is something we all share, insofar as we are members of the Mother-Church. Our own vocations are necessarily both paradoxical and liberating, insofar as we do not fear the paradoxes and the freedom, into which our crucified-and-risen Lord is leading us, by our obedience to Him. The connection between baptism and freedom is why the Exodus from bondage in Egypt, through the waters of the Red Sea, is seen as an image of Baptism.

Thank you, Mother of Life, Most Holy Theotokos, for having the courage and obedience to follow your vocation. “You passed into life as the Mother of Life, and by your prayers, you deliver our souls from death.”

The Dormition (“Falling Asleep”) of our Most Holy Lady, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary

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The death of the Theotokos was also life-bearing, translating her into a celestial and immortal life … Its commemoration not merely renews the memory of the wondrous deeds of the Mother of God, but also adds thereto the strange gathering at her all-sacred burial of all the sacred apostles conveyed from every nation … Thus she exalted those under her thought through herself, and, showing while on earth an obedience to things heavenly rather than things earthly, she partook of more excellent deserts and of superior power. 

… She alone in her body, glorified by God, now enjoys the celestial realm together with her Son. For earth and grave and death did not hold forever her life-originating and God-receiving body—the dwelling more favored than Heaven and the Heaven of heavens … How indeed could that body suffer corruption and turn to earth?

… The “ark of holiness” (Ps. 131.8) is resurrected, after the prophetic ode, together with Christ … by her ascension … uniting those on high with those below … In this manner she was in the beginning “a little lower than angels” (Ps. 8.6), as it is said, referring to her mortality, yet this only served to magnify her pre-eminence as regards all creatures.

… Receptacle of great graces … she only is the frontier between created and uncreated nature, and there is no man that shall come to God except he be truly illumined through her … It was through the Theotokos alone that the Lord came to us.

—St. Gregory Palamas, Homily on the Dormition

'Beyond Death and Judgment' - The Dormition of the Theotokos

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The Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos has come to be experienced as something of a "summer pascha," and as such has steadily become an integral event of our parish life. And this is "meet and right." The decorated tomb of the Theotokos, containing an icon of her sacred body in blessed repose, was in the center of the church during the Vesperal Liturgy yesterday evening. The tomb is back in its usual spot, but the icon will be there for veneration until the Leavetaking of the Feast on August 23.

American Christianity has been shaped by the Protestant ethos, and that basically means that there is no real place for the veneration of the Mother of God. This was primarily based upon a reaction against the perceived excesses of the medieval West's Marian piety by the early Protestant reformers. In a short time, this reaction became a thorough rejection - at times quite vehement - in many Protestant circles. So the Virgin Mary pretty much disappeared from Protestant worship and piety. Perhaps the classic example within Church history of "throwing out the baby with the bath water."

Orthodox Christians cannot succumb to any such truncated form of the Church's living Tradition. (However, there have been clear signs recently of a "recovery" of the role of the Virgin Mary in some Evangelical circles). One of my beloved professors from seminary always used to say that a sign of a spiritually strong parish is that parish's devotion to the Mother of God. For she is the personal image of the Church - warm, embracing, nurturing, protecting.

Since the Dormition has no biblical source, this feast slowly developed over the course of the first five centuries of the Church's history on the basis of a wide variety of sources - primarily narratives, rhetorical homilies and theological poetry/hymnography. (Much of this material now exists in English translation). There is no one authoritative text or document.

However, though details may differ, a tradition emerged that tells of how the apostles were miraculously brought back to Jerusalem in order to surround the bedside of the Virgin Mary as she lay dying. Upon commending her holy soul to her Son and Savior, she peacefully "fell asleep" in death (the meaning of the word dormition) in the presence of the apostles who stood weeping and grief-stricken by her bedside. With great solemnity they buried her pure body which had itself been the "tabernacle" of the King. The traditional place of her burial is a tomb close to Gethsemane. When the tomb was opened on the third day so that the Apostle Thomas, who arrived late, could venerate the body of the Theotokos, it was found to be empty. The "Mother of Life" was thus "translated to life!"

Archbishop Kallistos Ware summarizes the Church's understanding of this tradition in the following manner:

Without insisting on the literal truth of every element in this account, Orthodox tradition is clear and unwavering in regard to the central point: the Holy Virgin underwent, as did her Son, a physical death, but her body - like His - was afterwards raised from the dead and she was taken up into heaven, in her body as well as in her soul. She has passed beyond death and judgement, and lives wholly in the Age to Come.

The Resurrection of the Body, which all Christians await, has in her case been anticipated and is already an accomplished fact. That does not mean, however, that she is dissociated from the rest of humanity and placed in a wholly different category: for we all hope to share one day in that same glory of the Resurrection of the Body which she enjoys even now. ( The Festal Menaion, p. 64)

Fr. Thomas Hopko further elaborates on the meaning of this beautiful Feast and how it "relates" to every generation of Christians:

Thus, the feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos is the celebration of the fact that all men are "highly exalted" in the blessedness of the victorious Christ, and that this high exaltation has already been accomplished in Mary the Theotokos.

The feast of the Dormition is the sign, the guarantee, and the celebration that Mary's fate is the destiny of all those of "low estate" whose souls magnify the Lord, whose spirits rejoice in God the Savior, whose lives are totally dedicated to hearing and keeping the Word of God which is given to men in Mary's child, the Savior and Redeemer of the world.

Dormition, of course, means "falling asleep," the Christian term par excellence for how we approach the mystery of death. And here we further approach the paradox, from a Christian perspective, of death itself - the "last enemy" that causes great anguish and grief; but yet which now serves as a passage to life everlasting, and thus a cause for festal celebration in the death of the Mother of God. For the Virgin Mary truly died, as is the fate of all human beings; and yet "neither the tomb nor death could hold the Theotokos" who has been "translated to life by the One who dwelt in her virginal womb!" Without for a moment losing sight of the reality of death (notice the weeping apostles around the body of the Theotokos on the Dormition icon), from within the Church we can actually celebrate death during this "summer pascha" because of the Resurrection of Christ.

Thus, the Feast of the Dormition clearly raises the issue of death and dying, and what we mean by a “Christian ending to our life.” For the moment, though, here is a challenging paragraph from Fr. Thomas Hopko about some of our own misconceptions – basically our fears – that often find us wandering far from an Orthodox approach to death and dying:

I believe that the issue of death and dying is in need of serious attention in contemporary Orthodoxy, especially in the West, where most members of the Church seem to be “pagan” before people die and “Platonists” afterwards. By this I mean that they beg the Church to keep people alive, healthy, and happy as long as possible, and then demand that the Church assure them after people die that their immortal souls are “in a better place, basking in heavenly bliss” no matter what they may have done in their earthly lives.

This is precisely why we can call the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, “pascha in the summer!” The Virgin Mary and Theotokos died a “deathless death.” Now we have the opportunity to participate in this mystery in the celebration of this event as nothing less than a Feast. The Leave-taking of the Feast is on August 23. That means that we continue to sing and chant the troparion and kontakion of the Feast in our liturgical services until then, in addition to other hymnography of the Feast. I would strongly urge everyone to incorporate these hymns into your daily rule of prayer, including their use when you bless your meals as a family, replacing the Lord's Prayer up until the Leave-taking. If you can't sing these hymns, you can certainly recite them! The troparia and kontakia or the major Feasts are included in many Orthodox Prayer Books, but if you do not have the texts available at home, I am including them here:

Troparion of the Dormition

In giving birth, you preserved your virginity!
In falling asleep you did not
forsake the world, O Theotokos!
You were translated to life, O Mother of Life,
and by your prayers you deliver our souls from death!


Kontakion of the Dormition

Neither the tomb, nor death, could hold the Theotokos,
who is constant in prayer and our firm hope in her intercessions.
For being the Mother of Life, she was translated to life
by the One who dwelt in her virginal womb!

The great Feasts extended in time, give us an opportunity of integrating them into our lives in a meaningful way.

In memory of Fr. George Florovsky

Source: ancientfaith.com

 

Fr. Georges Florovsky is arguably one of the greatest and most influential Orthodox theologians of the 20th century. I did my best to read everything that he wrote that was translated into English or actually written in English. He very much shaped my approach and understanding of Orthodox theology in my formative years. I never met      him, and the first time I saw him he was vested in his priestly vestments and lying in his coffin!  For I served his funeral as an acolyte in 1979 while a student at St. Vladimir's Orthodox seminary. I "inherited" a chair of his at this time and to this day it is the chair at my home office desk. Fr. Florovsky was truly a towering figure! Christians are not committed to the denial of culture as such. But they are to be critical of any existing cultural situation and measure it by the measure of Christ. Yet problems and needs of ‘this age’ in no case and in no sense can be dismissed or disregarded, since Christians are called to work and service precisely ‘in this world’ and ‘in this age.’”

- Fr. Georges Florovsky, Christianity and Culture 

Today marks the 46th anniversary of the repose of Archpriest Georges Vasilievich Florovsky(September 9, 1893–August 11, 1979). Dean of Saint Vladimir's Seminary from 1951 until 1955, Fr. Georges is remembered as one of the most important and profound Orthodox theologians of the twentieth century. Members of the Seminary community will conduct the memorial service today at the grave of Fr. Georges and his wife Mka. Xenia (1893–1977) at St. Vladimir's Russian Orthodox Christian Cementery in Trenton, NJ. May God remember them always in His Kingdom!

Monday Morning Meditation

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 At the Liturgy yesterday, the homily focused on the Nicene Creed (1700th anniversary this year, 325-2025) and our belief in "One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church." So I am now  sharing two very different types of approaches to the Church, one by a distinguished contemporary biblical scholar and the second by a very prominent Orthodox theologian who died in a Soviet prison camp. The first is more-or-less a short definition by the Australian biblical scholar, Brendan Byrne. I hope that it doesn't sound a bit too "textbook" in style, but it gives us an overall - though very concise - explanation of the very term used for the Church, primarily as encountered in the Apostle Paul:

"Church - In secular Greek usage the term ekklesia refers to an assembly of citizens "called out" from their homes (ek-kalein) by the civic herald to gather in the assembly to hear a solemn proclamation from the ruler or to make decisions. The early believers saw themselves as called out from the darkness of unbelief to hear in community the Good New of their risen Lord. In each separate locality they constitute "the assembly [ekklesia] of God." Paul usually employs the term with reference to the local communities but this does not mean that he lacks a sense of a total ekklesia, a renewed people of God, made up, on the analogy of Israel, from the spread (diaspora) of communities in each place (cf. I Cor. 1:1-2)"

Then, there is this from the early 20th theologian Fr. Pavel Florensky, whose words reflect more the mystery of the Church as a reality that is experienced more than it is described:

"There is no concept of ecclesiality, but ecclesiality itself is, and for every living member of the Church, the life of the Church is the most definite and tangible thing that he knows. But the life of the Church is assimilated and known only through life - not in the abstract, not in a rational way. If one must nevertheless apply concepts to the life of the Church, the most appropriate concepts would be not juridical and archaeological, but ones that are biological and aesthetic ones."

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

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

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.

St. Maximus on the Transfiguration

Source: uncutmountainsupply.com

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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.

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.

_____

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.

(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.

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

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.