Great & Holy Friday Meditation

Source: legacyicons.com

Today our Lord Jesus Christ is on the cross, and we celebrate the festival, so that you may learn that the cross is a festival and a spiritual celebration. For previously the cross was a name of condemnation, but now it has become a thing of honor; previously a sign of sentencing, but now the basis of salvation. …

Not from the cross alone, but also from the very sayings on the cross can one see His unspeakable love of humanity. For even while He was nailed, made into a joke, and ridiculed, at the time He said: Father, forgive them the sin, for they do not know what they are doing. Even while being crucified He prays for those who crucified. … 

Hence, so that we also may enjoy His love of humanity, let us not be ashamed to confess our own sins fully. … For behold this person also confessed fully, and he found paradise opened. 

Whence, tell me, O bandit, were you reminded of a kingdom? … Nails and cross are visible, and accusations of jests and insults. “Yes,” he says, “for the cross itself seems to me to be a sign of a kingdom. For this reason I call Him king, because I see Him crucified. For it belongs to a king to die on behalf of those ruled. … Therefore, because He has laid down His soul, for this reason I call Him king: Remember me, Lord, when You come into Your kingdom.”

—St. John Chrysostom, On the Cross and the Bandit, as found in Behold the Thief with the Eyes of Faith

Lenten Meditation

Source: saintpaulsicons.com

"Gaze upon the Lord, hanging on the Cross. You see that, having ascended the Cross, He never left it until He surrendered His spirit to God the Father. So you also, having entered into the ascetic labor of struggling with the passions in view of pleasing the Lord, have begun to feel as if you are nailed to the cross. Such is how it is. But watch that you abide on this cross in peace, do not fret and do not thrash about, and especially cut off every thought of descending until the moment comes to say, 'Fathers, into Your hands I commit My spirit' Ilk. 23:46)." The meaning of these words is this: do not weaken your resolve; do not indulge yourself; do not change the ascetic struggle that you have begun; walk firmly on the sorrowful path of self-sacrifice. It will lead you to a blessed repose in the bosom of the Heavenly Father."

St.Theophan the Recluse

Midweek Morning Meditation: 'Wood is healed by Wood!' - The Tale of Two Trees

Source: pixnio.com

As we continue to observe the Feast Day of the Elevation/Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord all through this week, perhaps a few further words about the Cross might be appropriate.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Monday Morning Meditation: The Place of the Cross ~ in the Church, and in our Lives

Source: holycrossoca.org

The current Feast of the Elevation/Exaltation of the Cross allows us to go a long way in dispelling a stereotype that has developed concerning the Orthodox Church. This stereotype claims that the Orthodox Church is the Church of the Resurrection and/or Transfiguration of Christ at the expense of the Cross. Upon a closer and more balanced examination, this claim loses credibility.  The Cross has a central and abiding place within the Orthodox Tradition - theological, spiritual, liturgical, iconographic, and more. For the sake of brevity, the terse expression of St. Gregory Palamas (+1359), synthesizes more than a millennium of the patristic tradition of the Christian East, when he declared in one of his homilies: 

“The Lord’s Cross discloses the entire dispensation of His coming in the flesh, and contains within it the whole mystery of this dispensation.”

Liturgically, the focus on the Cross can hardly be described as minimal.  Great and Holy Friday is at the very heart of the Church’s liturgical tradition, when concentration of the Savior’s death on the Cross is treated with the greatest of solemnity and pathos. The crucified, dead and buried Master is surrounded by the faithful in a series of services that are emotionally intense and theologically rich in expression. This day serves as the prototype of every Friday (and actually every Wednesday)within the Church’s liturgical tradition when the Cross is the “theme” of those days, reflected in the hymnography of the day. That connection is strengthened accordingly by designating Wednesdays and Fridays as “fasting days.” The Cross and fasting have been linked together from the very earliest days of the Church’s history. To this day, practicing Orthodox Christians are expected to fast on those days as an expression of honoring and calling to remembrance the Cross of the Lord.

The current Feast of the Cross – one of the Twelve major fixed Feasts of the liturgical year - is one among others that again will focus our attention on the Cross throughout the year. The mid-point of Great Lent, the third Sunday, is called the Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross. As on this current Feast, the Cross is decorated with flowers, brought into the center of the church by means of a solemn procession, and then venerated with the same hymn – “Before Thy Cross, we bow down and worship, O Master; and Thy holy Resurrection, we glorify” - accompanied by prostrations. At the end of the service the faithful approach and kiss the ‘life-giving wood” of the Tree of the Cross. Another feast on August 1, though not as observed, is called the “Procession of the Cross.” Neglected or not, the same rite of procession and veneration is prescribed for this feast as for the other two we are describing here.

Another practice, which comes to the Orthodox so naturally, but may strike the outside observer as strange, is that at the end of the Divine Liturgy all of the faithful approach the bishop or priest, and reverently kiss the hand-held Cross that is presented to them. (I am unaware of this practice outside of the Orthodox Tradition, but I could simply be ignorant about this). Each person then receives a piece of “blessed bread” – the antidoron in the Gk. – before leaving the church. Again, for someone raised from childhood in the Orthodox Church this is so natural that it remains indelible in the minds of those who grew up Orthodox even if they leave the Church at some point in time. The point here is that it is one more clear expression of the over-all role of the Cross within the life of the Church. Our last gesture before departing from the Church back to our daily lives is venerating the Cross and committing ourselves in the process of remaining loyal to Christ crucified.

Of course, “making” the sign of the Cross over oneself is another perfectly natural practice for Orthodox Christians – and shared by other Christian traditions, as this is one more practice that can traced back into Christian antiquity. In fact, it is about as natural as breathing! The reason behind this practice is clear yet profound. As I have written elsewhere: The Church and our personal lives are placed under the sign of the Cross, both as an emblem of victory and of our willingness to bear our personal crosses in our daily struggles against sin, temptation, the devil, and all manner of evil. Throughout the entire Liturgy, whenever we glorify God, we make the sign of the Cross over ourselves, revealing our faith in Christ, the “Lord of Glory” (I COR. 2:8) crucified for our sakes according to the will of the Father and “through the eternal Spirit” (HEB. 9:14).

Non-Orthodox Christians who visit an Orthodox Church, and who may be aware of this practice, will still comment on the frequency with which Orthodox believers will make the sign of the Cross over themselves during the services. Of course, the naturalness of this act should never take away from the concentration and care that needs to accompany this outward sign if it is to have any meaning.

Perhaps we should finally mention the fact that most Orthodox Christians wear a cross. This is not meant to be one more piece of “matching jewelry” or displayed in an ostentatious fashion. Rather it is a humble practice of again recognizing the place of the Cross in the divine dispensation and in our personal salvation. It also implies the “self-denial” that we need to practice as true disciples of Christ. Our vocation is not simply to be "cross-wearers," but "cross-bearers."

Reflecting upon this summary of the place of the Cross in the life of the Church and in our personal lives, one may not only come to the conclusion that the Orthodox do not neglect the Cross, but that their devotion to the Cross may be a bit excessive! But that is hardly the case. What needs to be remembered is that a holistic approach to the Christian Faith combines the “outward” and the “inward.” Feast Days, processions, prostrations, veneration, signings, etc. are the outward manifestations of the Church’s inner vision of the literally cosmic and then deeply personal dimensions of the Cross. This vision based on faith, is then proclaimed to the world in a variety of ways, each of which tries to capture something of the greatness of God’s love revealed in the Cross. For the Cross is the “mystery” of God’s will for the world and its salvation. (cf. EPH. 1:3-10) For the Cross is believed to be “breadth and length and height and depth” of “the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (EPH. 3:18-19)

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!