Sister Vassa: 'On Casting Stones'

 

ON CASTING STONES

“Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do you say?’ This they said, testing him, that they might have something of which to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with his finger, as though he did not hear. So when they continued asking him, he raised himself up and said to them, ‘He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.’ And again h e stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised himself up and saw no one but the woman, he said to her, ‘Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.’” (Jn 8: 3-11)

I’m thinking of our reaction, when someone in our public eye is “caught in adultery,” or “in the very act” of some other sex-related sin. I’m not talking about criminal acts like rape and domestic violence, but about sexual missteps that are morally reprehensible, but not legally actionable. We do not physically stone the culprits to death, but we quite readily bombard them with our collective outcry, mostly on social media, to the point that the culprit’s name and career is erased from the public sphere, with no hope for redemption, regardless of their very-public apologies or explanations. (I’ll note parenthetically that our “verbal stoning” is usually unleashed on men, and only rarely on women.)

Why does Christ call us to take note of our own sins, in these situations? It’s not because “two wrongs make a right.” It’s rather because, while our “eye” is blinded by the “log” in it, we can’t say, as He does to this adultress, “Go and sin no more,” empowering her to do so by His grace-filled word. All we have to offer, in our unreflectingly-angry lack of self-awareness, is death-bringing stones, which can only destroy, but can’t empower anyone to do better. Thank You, Lord, for not “condemning” us, as we so often do one another, but empowering us to do better, by Your compassionate and grace-filled Word.

Coffee With Sister Vassa

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Sister Vassa lives in Vienna, so I am unaware of how publicly "sexual sins" are reported in her social and cultural setting. But it sounds similar to America, unless she is basing her words on a more international scale. Americans are obsessed with the sexual sins of other people - at least Christians are - just as we are obsessed with sex in general. The pervasiveness of sex in our society is clearly unhealthy, and we do our best to watch over our children's access to its less than desirable effects. 

Yet, all of the churches, including the Orthodox Church, are beset with the same sexual sins and of course they are deeply damaging to all the people involved. And it is worse when there are attempts to "cover up" these sins when they become high-profile cases. "Circling the wagons" to save the institutional reputation of the Church is clearly counter-productive; and only proves that the Church does not take these sexual sins seriously, though they are denounced in public pronouncements and from the amvon. All of this only leads to justifiable accusations of hypocrisy by the secular world. As Metropolitan Kallistos Ware once famously said: "Peeping through the keyhole of another person's bedroom is a very undignified position!" 

Her use of the term "verbal stoning" is effective. I do not think that she is at all advocating any kind of "moral relativism," as Christ certainly did not in the dramatic episode from St. John's Gospel that Sister Vassa recounts above. 

Her call for us to be vigilant so that we can remove the "log" from our own eyes is always timely. If we can drop the stones we have prepared for other people and their sins, I think we would feel much lighter.

Pentecostal Renewal or the Summertime Blues?

 

 

Icon of All Saints

Dear Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,

This last Sunday was the First Sunday After Pentecost. All of the subsequent Sundays of the liturgical year until the pre-lenten Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee sometime next year will be so numbered. We have thus completed the long and integrated cycle of the pre-lenten Sundays, Great Lent, Pascha and Pentecost for this year. This was a full nineteen weeks during which the Church drew on both The Triodion and The Pentecostarion. This coming Sunday will be the Second Sunday After Pentecost. This is not intended to help us count better. 

The purpose is to keep before our spiritual sight the overwhelming significance of Pentecost in the divine economy. 

The New Testament era of the Church began its existence on the Day of Pentecost with the Spirit’s descent as a mighty rushing wind that took on the form of fiery tongues alighting upon the heads of the future apostles (ACTS 2:1-13). The Church has always existed, but the Church as a remnant of Israel that would flourish and grow with the addition of the Gentiles began its final phase of existence with the Death, Resurrection and Ascension of God’s Messiah, Jesus Christ, Who, seated at the right hand of the Father, would send the Holy Spirit into the world and upon “all flesh” on the Day of Pentecost. As St. Epiphanius of Cyprus wrote in the fourth century: 

“The Catholic Church, which exists from the ages, is revealed most clearly in the incarnate advent of Christ.”

 

The simple calendar rubric of numbering the Sundays after Pentecost is one way of reminding us of this essential truth of the Christian Faith. The Church is the Temple of the Holy Spirit, and in and through the sacramental life of the Church we experience something like a permanent pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It is this outpouring of the Spirit "on all flesh" that offers the possibility and the promise of human holiness. The fact that so many men, women and children throughout the centuries of the Church's existence received this gift with joy and gladness is revealed to us in the lives of the saints. It is these "holy persons" that we commemorated this last Sunday on the Sunday of All Saints.

However, as we embark upon the Sundays of Pentecost we immediately encounter a prevailing tension between the "rhythm" of the Church and the "rhythm" of our personal lives. We begin these Pentecostal Sundays just when summer is also beginning - and our summer schedules often minimize our participation in the Church. 

So, as we receive the Spirit of renewal and re-commitment to the Church as the source of authentic life; as we pray to the Heavenly King and Spirit of Truth to "come and abide in us;" we more-or-less settle into our church summer schedules that have something of a lazy-hazy approach to the Church. There seems to exist an Orthodox version of "the summertime blues!" 

This can especially afflict Orthodox parents who equate "summer vacation" from school and summer vacation from church school. The notion of "we're off until the Fall!" can translate into sporadic attendance at the Lord's Day Liturgy, let alone any other services or events in the church. Fortunately for us, God's providential care for us is not seasonal.

Thus, the tension between Pentecostal renewal and the beginning of summer. If anyone gets the urge to just stay home on Sunday for leisure purposes or for no particular reason at all, my pastoral response is: that is a temptation that must be resisted. It was recorded that St. Seraphim of Sarov (+1833) once said that if were too ill or infirm to walk to the Liturgy, then he would crawl there on his hands and knees!

Be present in the church as often as possible: "The Church is the presence of the Most Trinity in the midst of us and in us. It is the action of the Life-giving Trinity in his creatures." (Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh).

The Lord's Day cycle for the Second Sunday of Pentecost - when we commemorate the Saints of North America - begins with Great Vespers on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. and culminates with the Hours and Liturgy on Sunday morning at 9:10 and 9:30 a.m. respectively. 

Pentecostal renewal or the summertime blues?

LENTEN MEDITATION - Day XXXIX — 'Phono Sapiens'

 

Dear Parish Faithful,

People who grew up with phones—and even many older people who didn’t—can’t read a novel anymore, sit through a film without looking at their phones, sit through a TV show without pausing it to check their emails, finish an article online—in short, can’t really do anything without multitasking. There’s no moment of rapture in reading the first page of a book because the mind no longer expects to reach the end. The old tools of storytelling are obsolete; distraction supersedes even entertainment, let alone art. And because we can’t narrate our lives, “we can’t construct narratives connected to our own inner truth.” Truth simply falls out of the human vocabulary, replaced by big data: charts, memes, viral clips. Phono sapiens is “lost” in a “forest of information,” without passion or purpose.

—Matthew Gasda

____

Not exactly the usual "lenten" fare that I have been sending out this Great Lent. But no less challenging than what we have read thus far from a Church Father, or our more contemporary voices: Metropolitan Anthony Bloom, Frs. Alexander Schmemann, Thomas Hopko, and Lev Gillet, to mention a few. My contribution is not to add what you just read above, but to admit - confess! - that I, too, have found myself doing the same mindless and meaningless "stuff" with my phone. I am glad to be a member of homo sapiens, but distressed to even think that unless I am vigilant, I may be degraded to the ranks of Phono sapiens! In fact to curtail some of the above in my own life has been one of my focused "lenten projects" this year. Yet, I do continue to read long novels (and watch films) with great joy and attention, I am glad to further share. A suggestion: Choose a good, long novel for the summer and commit to reading it from start to finish.

 

The Angelic World

 

 

 Dear Parish Faithful,

The passage below is taken from a homily by the late Metropolitan John Zizioulas of Pergamon. The title is the "Synaxis of the Holy Angels," and it was delivered on November 8, 2005, the date on which we commemorate the Archangels Michael and Gabriel and and all of the bodiless powers. We celebrated this feast just this week with Great Vespers and the Liturgy. And we also chanted an Akathist Hymn to Archangel Michael the day after the feast. The feast is already past, but this is a timely excerpt from the end of this fine homily that I wanted to share with the parish. And since the Liturgy on the Lord's Day is approaching, an "event" in which the angels are together with us and serving with us, this passage is a good reminder as to where we need to turn our gaze and "attention" so as not to become indifferent to the invisible world:
_____

My beloved brothers and sisters, we live in a materialistic world, in a world, in a culture - a so-called culture, at any rate - which deals with nothing but matter. How will we satisfy our material needs, how will we increase our bodily enjoyment, how will we increase our pleasure. Our world today is nothing but a struggle to increase our standard of living, our wealth, a struggle without end, a struggle which subjects us to mental and physical fatigue and makes us lose our faith in a world which is not material. So the angels today, my beloved brothers and sisters, are calling us to leave the earth, to think that our destiny is to be together with the angels close to God, because that is where our happiness lies and not in the material goods of this world. And that is precisely why today's feast is an opportunity that our Church uses to send a message that there is an intangible world, that matter is not everything, that our destiny is to unite with this intangible world and to be close to the glory of God.

...Our ancestors lived with this faith in the angelic world. They believed that angels accompany them in their journeys and that at the end of their lives, angels receive their souls and take them to the throne of God. Let us acquire this simple faith again, my dear brothers and sisters, in this materialistic world in which we live. Let us be a light, a witness, a true witness to the glory of God. Amen!

From Receive One Another - 101 Sermons by Metropolitan John of Pergamon.

The Dormition Fast: A Challenge and a Choice

 

 

Dear Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,

On Tuesday, August 1, we will begin the relatively short Dormition Fast that always covers the first two weeks of August (1-14), culminating in the Feast of the Dormition on August 15. In recognition of the beginning of the Fast, we will serve Vespers this evening at 7:00 p.m.


We will celebrate the Feast with a Vesperal Liturgy on Monday evening, August 14. As has become our tradition, we will place the tomb in the center of the church, decorate it with flowers, venerate the icon of the blessed repose of the Ever-Virgin Mother of God – Miriam of Nazareth - and sing hymns of praise to her “translation” into the Kingdom of Heaven. Not a celebration to be missed! Please mark your calendars and prepare to be present for this beautiful Feast. 

Every fast presents us with a challenge and a choice. In this instance, I would say that our choice is between “convenience” and “commitment.” We can choose convenience, because of the simple fact that to fast is decidedly inconvenient. It takes planning, vigilance, discipline, self-denial, and an over-all concerted effort. It is convenient to allow life to flow on at its usual (summertime) rhythm, which includes searching for that comfort level of least resistance. To break our established patterns of living is always difficult, and it may be something we would only contemplate with reluctance. So, one choice is to do nothing different during this current Dormition Fast, or perhaps only something minimal, as a kind of token recognition of our life in the Church. I am not quite sure, however, what such a choice would yield in terms of further growth in our life “in Christ.” It may rather mean a missed opportunity. 

Yet the choice remains to embrace the Dormition Fast, a choice that is decidedly “counter-cultural” and one that manifests a conscious commitment to an Orthodox Christian “way of life.” Such a commitment signifies that we are looking beyond what is convenient toward what is meaningful. It would be a choice in which we recognize our weaknesses, and our need precisely for the planning, vigilance, discipline, self-denial and over-all concerted effort that distinguishes the seeker of the “mind of Christ” which we have as a gift within the life of the Church. 

That is a difficult choice to make, and one that is perhaps particularly difficult within the life of a family with children who are often resistant to any changes. I still believe, though, that such a difficult choice has its “rewards” and that such a commitment will bear fruit in our families and in our parishes. (If embraced legalistically and judgmentally, however, we will lose our access to the potential fruitfulness of the Fast and only succeed in creating a miserable atmosphere in our homes). It is a choice that is determined to seize a good opportunity as at least a potential tool that leads to spiritual growth.

My opinion and observation is that we combine the “convenient” with our “commitment” within our contemporary social and cultural life to some degree. We often don’t allow the Church to “get in the way” of our plans and goals. And those plans and goals may be hard to avoid in the circumstances and conditions of our present way of life. It is hard to prevail in the never-ending “battle of the calendars.” The surrounding social and cultural milieu no longer supports our commitment to Christ and the Church. In fact, it is usually quite indifferent and it may even be hostile toward such a commitment. 

Though we may hesitate to admit it, we find it very challenging not to conform to the world around us. But it is never impossible to choose our commitment to our Orthodox Christian way of life over what is merely convenient – or simply desired. That may just be one of those “daily crosses” that the Lord spoke of – though it may be a stretch to call that a “cross.” This also entails choices, and we have to assess these choices with honesty as we look at all the factors that make up our lives. In short, it is very difficult – but profoundly rewarding - to practice our Orthodox Christian Faith today!

I remain confident, however, that the heart of a sincere Orthodox Christian desires to choose the hard path of commitment over the easy (and rather boring?) path of convenience. We now have the God-given opportunity to escape the summer doldrums that drain our spiritual energy. With prayer, almsgiving and fasting, we can renew our tired bodies and souls. We can lift up our “drooping hands” in an attitude of prayer and thanksgiving.

The Dormition of the Theotokos has often been called “pascha in the summer.” It celebrates the victory of life over death; or of death as a translation into the Kingdom of Heaven. The Dormition Fast is our spiritually-vigilant preparation leading up to that glorious celebration. 

“Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold now is the day of salvation!” (II COR. 6:2)

Embracing the Tradition

 

Dear Parish Faithful, 

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.

Forty Shopping (and Fasting) Days Until Christmas

Dear Parish Faithful,

The meditation presented here is found in my book in a somewhat longer version, but with the certainty that in some areas of life "there is nothing new under the sun" (and that shopping sprees before Christmas will assuredly be with us until the universe either burns or freezes), I thought it remains timely enough, especially for those who may not familiar with it.


Forty Shopping (and Fasting) Days Until Christmas


Dear Parish Faithful,

 

 

 

On November 15, we will observe the first day of the 40-day Nativity/Advent Fast, meant to prepare us for the advent of the Son of God in the flesh, celebrated on December 25. (The Western observance is from the four Advent Sundays before Christmas). For some/many of us this might very well catch us unaware and unprepared. However, as the saying goes, “it is what it is,” and so the church calendar directs us to enter into this sacred season next Monday. 

This indicates an intensification of the perennial “battle of the calendars” that every Orthodox Christian is engaged in consciously or unconsciously. The two calendars – the ecclesial and the secular – represent the Church and “the world” respectively. Often, there is an underlying tension between these two spheres. Because of that tension, I believe that we find ourselves in the rather peculiar situation of being ascetical and consumerist simultaneously. 

To fast, pray and be charitable is to lead a simplified life that is based around restraint, a certain discipline and a primary choice to live according to the principles of the Gospel in a highly secularized and increasingly hedonistic world. That is what it means to be ascetical. It further means to focus upon Christ amidst an ever-increasing amount of distractions and diversions. Even with the best of intentions and a firm resolve that is not easy! From our historical perspective of being alive in the twenty-first century, and leading the “good life” where everything is readily available, practicing any form of voluntary self-restraint is tantamount to bearing a cross. Perhaps fulfilling some modest goals based on the Gospel in today’s world, such as it is, amounts to a Christian witness, unspectacular as those goals may be. 

The Church directs us to fast before we feast... Can we develop some 'domestic strategies' that will give us the opportunity to put that into practice to at least some extent?

 

Yet, as our society counts down the remaining shopping days until Christmas; and as our spending is seen as almost a patriotic act of contributing to the build-up of our economy; and as we want to “fit in” – especially for the sake of our children – we also are prone (or just waiting) to unleashing the “consumer within” always alert to the joys of shopping, spending and accumulating. When you add in the unending “entertainment” that is designed to create a holiday season atmosphere, it can all get rather overwhelming.

 

Certainly, these are some of the joys of family life, and we feel a deep satisfaction when we surround our children with the warmth and security that the sharing of gifts brings to our domestic lives. Perhaps, though, we can be vigilant about knowing when “enough is enough;” or even better that “enough is a feast.” An awareness — combined with sharing — of those who have next to nothing is also a way of overcoming our own self-absorption and expanding our notion of the “neighbor.”

What we are essentially trying to maintain is our identity as Orthodox Christians within the confines of a culture either indifferent or hostile to Christianity.

Therefore, to be both an ascetic and a consumer is indicative of the challenges facing us as Christians in a world that clearly favors and “caters” to our consumerist tendencies. To speak honestly, this is a difficult and uneasy balance to maintain. How can it possibly be otherwise, when to live ascetically is to restrain those very consumerist tendencies?

I believe that what we are essentially trying to maintain is our identity as Orthodox Christians within the confines of a culture either indifferent or hostile to Christianity. If the Church remains an essential part of the build-up toward Christmas, then we can go a long way in maintaining that balance. Although I do not particularly like putting it this way, I would contend that if the church is a place of choice that at least “competes” with the mall, then that again may be one of the modest victories in the underlying battle for our ultimate loyalty that a consumerist Christmas season awakens us to.

The Church directs us to fast before we feast. Does that make any sense? Do we understand the theological/spiritual principles that is behind such an approach? Can we develop some 'domestic strategies' that will give us the opportunity to put that into practice to at least some extent? Do we care enough?

The final question always returns us to the question that Jesus asked of his initial disciples:  “Who do you say that I am?” If we confess together with St. Peter that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, then we know where we stand as the “battle of the calendars” intensifies for the next forty days.

The Church calendar indicates the nature of the Nativity Fast. If I can be of any pastoral assistance in helping you formulate that "domestic strategy" referred to above, then please do not hesitate to contact me.

Reflections on the Sanctity of Life

Dear Parish Faithful,

"Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." (Jeremiah 1:4)

 

This coming Sunday, January 24, is designated as Sanctity of Life Sunday within the Orthodox Church in America. For that reason I am including here some links to meditations/reflections that I have written over the years on the issue of abortion. There is a good deal of overlap in terms of the overall content, but each one touches on a certain aspect of the "abortion problem" that may lend it a certain singularity; and many have some fine quotations from other prominent thinkers. They are also "dated" in that there are references to more immediate events that are now not as relevant. But I am simply passing them on in their original form. Please feel free to look them over as we continue to affirm the Sanctity of Life.

Two Statements on 'Sanctity of Life'

Sanctity of Life: Embracing the Christian Ideal

Total Cost of Abortion - The Salvo Article

Orthodox Liturgical Tradition Values Life in the Womb

Life: “The most sublime expression of God’s creative activity”

Fr. Steven

Embracing the Tradition

Dear Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,

 

 

The meditation below was written with the current Dormition Fast (August 1-14)  in mind in addition to the incredible account of the Seven Maccabean martyrs.  It is that wonderfully-placed mid-summer reminder that we are called to be practicing Orthodox Christians.  The practicing Orthodox Christian combines orthodoxy ("right belief")  with orthopraxis ("right practice/action"). 

 

Or, as St. John Chrysostom said, "This is true piety: to combine right belief and right action."  Orthopraxis combines prayer and almsgiving and fasting (MATT. 6).  All of this is to prepare us to honor the most holy Theotokos.

 

The Maccabean Martyrs

                                                                                                                                            

  

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.

____________

 

Tomorrow, August 1, we are beginning the Dormition Fast.  We are encouraged by the Church—our “Mother” we could say—to embrace the fast with the certainty that we are being guided into a practice that is designed to strengthen our spiritual well-being. This is part of an Orthodox “way of life” that has been witnessed to for centuries by the faithful of the Church.  We also could say that such practices belong to the “laws of our fathers.”  By embracing such practices we continue in the Tradition that has been handed down to us, the Tradition that we have “received.”  To ignore such practices is to break with that Tradition.  That can lead to an erosion of our self-identity as Orthodox Christians, especially considering our “minority status” in the landscape of American religion.  

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 as we fast bodily to some extent.  If we convince ourselves that this is inconvenient, uncomfortable, or undesirable, then we 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.

 

 

 

Film Review: 'Just Mercy'

Dear Parish Faithful,

Earlier this week, Presvytera Deborah and I saw a deeply affecting film that explored themes as important as justice and mercy within the wider context of racism and the systemic injustice and deplorable inhumanity that racism can generate. 

Just Mercy Show Times

The film we saw is called Just Mercy. This was a cinematic dramatization of a notorious murder case that takes us back to the world of the 1980's- 1990's in the state of Alabama. The setting is actually in the small town where Harper Lee lived, and where she set her American classic, To Kill a Mockingbird. 

In the film, an African-American man by the name of Walter McMillan (played by Jamie Foxx) is arrested and convicted of brutally murdering a young white woman, though there was no real evidence to convict him other than an unreliable witness who was pressured to testify against him. Mr. McMillan was sentenced to death for this crime and spent about eight years on death row. His case was eventually taken up by an idealistic Harvard-trained lawyer, an African American by the name of Bryan Stevenson (played by Michael Jordan). 

Stevenson has devoted his life to defending convicted criminals on death row who either did not receive a fair trial, or did not have competent legal representation. A credit at the end of the film informed us that he has helped spare the lives of 85 men wrongfully convicted of murder and eventually spared the death sentence through his legal intervention. That is an accomplishment of heroic dimensions.  

Just Mercy was based on Stevenson's memoirs of the case that he published in the past. From what I have been able to read about the case, the film appears to be a reliable presentation of the case as it unfolded over time, though again in an engaging dramatized form. The case gained some real notoriety when it was the subject of investigation on the popular 60 Minutes series. Both presvytera and I would highly recommend it. 

In a film market flooded with either excessive action, sex, or just plain inanity, this is a good example of a film with genuine moral content that will make your "blood boil" over such crass injustice; and will also make you think out the implications of such themes as justice and mercy captured by the film's title. Such a film can have a good impact on our "young adults" and both broaden and deepen their own emerging moral sensitivity. Whenever justice and mercy are the subject of a work of art, one can justifiably reflect upon it theologically. There are deep Christian themes embedded within this film that are easily discernible and worthy of reflection and discussion. Issues of sin and redemption, the workings of the conscience, guilt and forgiveness, are some of the more obvious ones that come readily to mind and which receive thoughtful consideration throughout the film.

What is sobering about Walter McMillan's case is that it occurs about a quarter of a century after the passage of Civil Rights legislation in the 60's. Racism - either systemic or personal - can be so ingrained within any society that it becomes "natural" and something of a "way of life." Legislation will combat racism but cannot eradicate it. Ultimately, it is about a change of mind and heart. Then again, any attempt to combat it is met with mistrust, or simply contempt and hostility. In the racially polarized society that continued to exist in rural Alabama at the time of the film - again the 1980's - 1990's - we see how this led to the arrest and conviction of Walter McMillan. In the film this is all the more egregious as it is painfully clear that Walter McMillan was not even remotely involved in this tragic murder case.

What is equally troubling was the fierce opposition that any attempt to reopen this case was met with. And this opposition was organized from the top down, so to speak: law enforcement, the legal community, the judiciary, etc. This was further intensified by the not-so-hidden threat of violence that persons involved with seeking justice in this case were threatened with, beginning with Bryan Stevenson himself. 

At the same time, there were other decent (white) people who had moved far beyond such ingrained racism, and who also worked with the black community to seek justice in this case. At one point, a disheartening legal judgment, after a well-crafted appeal, had placed Mr.McMillan back on death row. But this decision was overturned by the higher State Court of Alabama, so that here you sensed the gains of the Civil Rights movement that served the cause of equal justice. And, of course, Walter McMillan is eventually given his freedom without even needing a new trial. This is not meant to be a "spoiler" because this was a very high-profile case that received national attention and one that can be studied from a variety of sources. Even though one may know the outcome of the case ahead of time, the tension and uncertainty that the film maintains, is dramatically very convincing.

The film itself is well done. One of the challenges of a film that is portraying actual people, many of whom are still alive, is that of being one more "bio-pic." At least for me, bio-pics often just don't succeed in being that attractive. These can be either overly-dramatized or overly-sentimentalized. I believe that the director of Just Mercy, Destin Daniel Cretton, maintains a good balance between both of those tendencies. 

With the story line being what it is, the film is intense and it is heartfelt, but never really overblown or maudlin. Of course, we have fine and nuanced dramatic performances by both Michael Jordan and Jamie Foxx, as well as the cast of other supporting actors. And they are both given some scenes filled with drama and good dialogue. There was a wonderful scene in which Jamie Foxx, playing Walter McMillan, says - after years of being considered and called a murderer, and after he finally was defended in a convincing manner - that "I have got my truth back." And Michael Jordan, playing Bryan Stevenson, is given some fine speeches that attain a level of genuine rhetorical flourish. Hard to say just how true-to-life all of that may be. (Though I recently heard an interview with the "real" Bryan Stevenson and he is very articulate). 

One hopes that the essence of each of the persons they were portraying is not distorted in the process of bringing them to the screen. Yet, how fitting that Walter McMillan, a victim of racism and acute prejudice, accused of a murder he did not commit, and suffering through years of this together with his family, is the subject of a film that captures his dignified suffering in an honorable fashion. (Sadly, he died in 2013 of acute dementia thought to have been the result of the trauma of spending years on death row). 

Finally, the film appeals to our own sense of right and wrong and of justice properly served. As I said earlier, it makes your "blood boil" while remaining simultaneously satisfying on the moral plane when people of goodwill and deep conviction work toward the service of "justice, mercy and unmerited grace." That meaningful expression belongs to Bryan Stevenson, spoken before a United States senate investigative committee. A sense of "unmerited grace" is a fine way to conclude a film concerning justice and mercy.

Again, I would accord Just Mercy a hearty endorsement/recommendation - as would Presvytera Deborah.

As something of an addendum to my review, I would like to briefly explore the very open allusions to Harper Lee's classic To Kill a Mockingbird that are found throughout the film. 

The setting of the film is in the small Alabama town in which she lived for many years. What was the significance of that great novel in relation to the content of the film? Presvytera Deborah and I had a "lively discussion" over its possible meaning. One of us thought that perhaps the director is telling us that now a black man is a lawyer standing where Atticus Finch once stood, and successfully defending another black man; whereas Tom Robinson in the novel, endured no such redemption and was even tragically killed in the end. Were we being told that as a society, we have "progressed" to this point, where justice can be so served? Or, as one of us thought, is the background presence of To Kill a Mockingbird a painful reminder that racism within the judicial system continues to linger on a full half century - including the era of the Civil Rights Movement - later? A rather troubling question.