Coffee With Sister Vassa -- THE SPEECHES AT DAVOS & ST. PETER

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims of the Dispersion/Diaspora in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia (...) They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.” (1 Peter 1:1 and 2:8b-10)

This morning I’m thinking both about the above-quoted passage from today’s Epistle-reading, and about the speeches made recently by several world-leaders at Davos. Both St. Peter and the world-leaders reflected on what makes us “us,” based on each leader’s worldview, at a time when ‘we’ are confronted with ‘them’ who have quite different worldviews.

The Apostle Peter is explaining to dispersedChristians (‘ of the dispersion’ or ‘diaspora’) how and why they have now been united into “ a people,” having received a new purpose, identity and sense of belonging: You “ were once not a people,” he writes, “ but are now the people of God... (so) that you may proclaim the praises of Him...” Let’s remember that this new sense of identity led Christians to be regarded with suspicion by Roman society, because Christians did not participate in Roman rituals that involved worshipping idols, including the Emperor. St. Peter himself was executed by the authorities along with many other Christians, when Emperor Nero scapegoated them for the Great Fire of Rome.

In that light, it’s interesting that at Davos the Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney, noted that totalitarian systems are sustained “ not through violence alone, but through the participation of ordinary people in rituals they privately know to be false,” as he called for ‘us’ as countries and companies to stop participating in these rituals and “ not live within the lie.” Nonetheless, he also called ‘us’ to be both “ principled and pragmatic,” referring to Alexander Stubb’s (the President of Finland) “ value-based realism.” The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, also tried to balance principles & pragmatism, warning against “ adopting a purely moral posture” and calling for “ an efficient materialism” instead. But as Macron came to the end of his speech in his cool aviator sunglasses, he underlined what “we” prefer, as those who cherish the rule of law and its predictability as “a good place” to live: “ We prefer respect to bullies,” said Macron, “ science to plotisme (conspiracy theories in French), and the rule of law to brutality.”

This is no exhaustive analysis of the complicated issues at hand, dear readers. You think about all of it further. For myself, I feel challenged at this time to listen in to what the Apostle Peter and the rest of Tradition says to us about who “we” are, as Church. We have an identity and a purpose, as “ His own special people,” to “ proclaim the praises of Him,” not bow down before other gods, nor cave in to hopelessness and fear. I’m so grateful for that dignifying call we share together. I’m also grateful for the statesmen and stateswomen we have today, who are at pains to articulate a way forward. Regardless of what we tend to think about the messy business of political leadership, – someone has to do it! Let’s pray for them and one another, and Happy Friday to all of you.❤

The Cost of Conforming

 

Dear Parish Faithful,

At the beginning of his “pastoral” teaching in ch. 12 of his Epistle to the Romans, the Apostle Paul delivers an admonition that is timeless in its challenge for serious-minded Christians:

Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Rom. 12:2) 

Loosely defined, to conform is to “take on the form,” or “to be like” someone or something; or to “fit in” in a manner that does not draw any attention to oneself. It seems as if most of us – Christians and non-Christians - are conformists by nature. We feel uneasy about standing out, or doing things that would be considered too “different.” Since the Church is not a “cult,” Christians are not expected to practice a kind of non-conformity in the everyday aspects of life that would make them seem eccentric or socially disengaged. We find this expressed as early as the 2nd century in the document known as The Epistle to Diognetus. This rather charming work, anonymously written, contains a passage that addresses some issues tied to the theme of conformity (and Christian non-conformity). In reading this passage, one is reminded of the general principle of being in, but not of, the world:

For the distinction between Christians and other men, is neither in country nor language nor customs ... Yet while living in Greek and barbarian cities, according as each obtained by his lot, and following local customs, both in clothing and food and in the rest of life, they show forth the wonderful and confessedly strange character of the constitution of their own citizenship. They dwell in their own fatherlands, but as if sojourners in them; they share all things as citizens, and suffer all things as strangers. Every foreign country is their fatherland, and every fatherland is a foreign country. they marry as all men, they bear children, but they do not expose their offspring. They offer hospitality, but guard their purity. Their lot is cast “in the flesh,” but they do not live “after the flesh.” They pass their time upon the earth, but they have their citizenship in heaven. (Epistle to Diognetus, v.)

 

In other words, the early Christians were quite willing to share the same “lifestyles” as their pagan neighbors, at least on the surface level of day-to-day existence. However, when faced with some contemporary practices that may have been legal and acceptable, but unacceptable from the vision of life in the Church, for the most part the early Christians chose the “higher law” of the Gospel. This prevented our spiritual ancestors from being too far drawn into a morally and ethically compromised way of life.

Yet what happens when our innocent conformity lacks a sense of balance? Or when we become excessive or even obsessive in our desire toward “conforming to this world?” What does it mean if our overall consumerism leaves us spiritually exhausted in pursuit of the “American dream?” This everyday type of  “conforming to this world” can further spill into areas of a moral and ethical concern; as when we defend an ideology or political party that is contrary to the Gospel that respects human life from conception to the grave, gender and racial equality, the poor and needy, and peacemakers instead of warmongers.

How much time, talent or treasure remains in order to practice Christian stewardship when so much is poured into this world beyond our basic needs? In satisfying our desire to conform to this world, are we reduced to offering our “leftovers” to the Church - in terms of time, talent and treasure -  treating the Church in the process as a marginal attraction in comparison with the world?

It is hard to reign all of that in once it has taken on a life of its own and we are (hopelessly?) caught up into it. If we can practice a form of “critical conformity” in which we carefully assess and discern our cumulative choices, then we can truly be in the world, but free of "worldliness" to a meaningful degree. This becomes possible when we “renew our minds” by “conforming” them to the image of Christ. To conform to the “mind of Christ” is to avoid conforming to “this world” in a conscious and deliberate manner. An internal non-conformity slowly develops that sharpens our vision concerning the relationship between the Church and the fallen world.

The renewal of our mind (the Gk. word is nous, often translated as "spiritual intellect") can be approached in a variety of ways. Here is what the great biblical exegete, Origen (+254) said about this renewal of mind:

Our mind is renewed by the practice of wisdom and reflection on the Word and the spiritual understanding of his law. The more one reads the Scriptures daily and the greater one's understanding is, the more one is renewed always and every day. I doubt whether a mind which is lazy toward the holy Scriptures and the exercise of spiritual knowledge can be renewed at all. (Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans)

 

And as to "the perfect will of God," included in Rom. 12:2, St. Gregory of Nyssa wrote the following:

The perfect will of God is that the soul be changed by reverence, having been brought to the full flower of its beauty by the grace of the Spirit, which attends to the suffering of the person who undergoes this change. (On the Christian Mode of Life)

 

As members of the Body of Christ, we are all in this struggle together - clergy and laity. Beside the wonder and beauty that world presents us with on a daily basis, there is also the fallen side of "this world" manifested in sin and the rejection of God. It is the fallen aspect of "this world" that the Apostle Paul is exhorting us not to conform to. In other words, there exists a "holy non-conformity" that, by renewing our minds, will grant us the vision of the world's beauty, but protect us from "the prince of this world." (Jn. 14:30)  

The Apostle Paul knew the cost of “conforming to this world.” It could hinder the formation of a Christian conscience and a position of freedom in regards to the fallen world. This is a blessed struggle, however, worthy of those who love Christ. Thus, his admonition remains timeless as we struggle with our choices.

Can't Get No Satisfaction... Thank God!

Dear Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,


This is an older meditation, but I thought that it would have a certain resonance since we chanted the Akathist Hymn "Glory to God For All Things" on Tuesday evening as we acknowledged the Church New Year beginning on September 1. I say that because there are certain thoughts expressed in the Hymn that led me to write this particular meditation.

"My soul thirsts for God, for the living God." —Psalm 42:2

"I can't get no satisfaction" —The Rolling Stones

"We thank God for the gift of "blessed dissatisfaction!"

"I (Can't Get No) Satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones must be considered one of the great all-time "classics" of the pop/rock music world.

I remember it well from the Summer of 1965. With its driving guitar riff and raspy-voiced lyrics giving a kind of pop-articulation to the disaffection of the lonely and alienated urbanite who, try as he might, just cannot succeed at "satisfying" the material and romantic/sexual goals droned into his mind on the radio and TV; this song - regardless of its actual intentions - managed to say something enduring about the "human condition." (I wonder if the various members of the Rolling Stones ever experience any genuine satisfaction after many years of fame and fortune. And while I am at it: "Memory Eternal" to Charlie Watts). 

Be that as it may, a rather odd connection came to me between this song and a verse from "The Akathist of Thanksgiving" that we  sang and chanted for the Church New Year on September 1. In Ikos Six of the akathist, one of the verses in the refrain reads as follows:

Glory to You, Who have inspired in us dissatisfaction with earthly things.

Both the Stones' song and the Orthodox hymn speak of "no satisfaction" or "dissatisfaction." However by "earthly things," the author of this remarkable hymn, does not mean the natural world in which God has placed us. The refrain of Ikos Three makes that abundantly clear:

Glory to You, Who brought out of the earth's darkness diversity of color, taste and fragrance, 
Glory to You, for the warmth and caress of all nature, 
Glory to You, for surrounding us with thousands of Your creatures, 
Glory to You, for the depth of Your wisdom reflected in the whole world ...

 

To the purified eyes of faith, the world around us can be a "festival of life" ... foreshadowing eternal life" (Ikos Two). The "earthly" can lead us to the "heavenly."

"Earthly things" in the context of the Akathist Hymn and the Orthodox worldview expressed in the Hymn, would certainly refer to the very things the Rolling Stones song laments about being absent - material and sexual satisfaction seen as ends in themselves. But whereas the song expresses both frustration and resentment as part of the psychic pain caused by such deprivation, the Akathist Hymn glorifies God for such a blessing! In the light of the insight of the Akathist Hymn, we can thus speak of a "blessed dissatisfaction." The Apostle Paul spoke of a closely-related "godly grief." (On this point, I would imagine that the Apostle Paul and Rolling Stones part company).

This just may prove to be quite a challenge to our way of approaching something like dissatisfaction.

Our usual instinct is to flee from dissatisfaction "as from the plague." Such a condition implies unhappiness, a sense of a lack of success, of "losing" in the harsh game of life as time continues to run out on us; and the deprivation and frustration mentioned above.

Yet, perhaps there does exist something like "blessed dissatisfaction." This wonderful and eloquent entry from Fr. Alexander Elchaninoff's Diary of a Russian Priest supports that contention:

"What is this continual sense of dissatisfaction, of anxiety, which we normally feel within us, save the stifled voice of conscience speaking to us inwardly in the subconscious level, and often contradicting our own will and declaring the untruth that our life is? As long as we live in conflict with the law of light which has been granted us, this voice will not be silent, for it is the voice of God Himself in our soul. On the other hand, that rare feeling of keen satisfaction, of plenitude and joy, is the happiness caused by the union of the divine principle in our soul with the universal harmony and the divine essence of the world."

 

Why should we tolerate the condition of dissatisfaction when limitless means of achieving "satisfaction" are at our disposal? To escape from a gnawing sense of dissatisfaction, don't people resort to alcohol, drugs and sex as desperate forms of relief? Or unrestrained and massive consumer spending? And we should not eliminate "religion" as one of those means of escape.

If those means fail, then there is always therapy and medication as more aggressive means to relieve us of this unendurable feeling.

Sadly, many learn "the hard way," that every ill-conceived attempt to eliminate dissatisfaction through "earthly things" only leads to a further and deeper level of this unsatiable affliction. Sadder still, there are many who would "forfeit their soul/life" just to avoid the bitter taste of dissatisfaction!

If the living God exists as we believe that He does, then how could we not feel dissatisfaction at His absence from our lives? What could possibly fill the enormous space in the depth of our hearts that yearns for God "as a hart longs for flowing streams." (Ps. 42:1)

It is as if when people "hear" the voice of God calling them - in their hearts, their conscience, through another person, a personal tragedy - they reach over and turn up the volume so as to drown out that call.

If we were made for God, then each person has an "instinct for the transcendent" (I recall this term from Fr. Alexander Schmemann), that can only be suppressed at an incalculable cost to our very humanity.

In His infinite mercy, the Lord "blesses" us with a feeling of dissatisfaction so that we do not foolishly lose our souls in the infinitesimal pseudo-satisfactions that come our way. Therefore, we thank God for the gift of "blessed dissatisfaction!"

When we realize that we "can't get no satisfaction," then we have approached the threshold of making a meaningful decision about the direction of our lives. The way "down" can lead to that kind of benign despair that characterizes the lives of many today. The way "up" to the One Who is "enthroned above the heavens" and the Source of true satisfaction.

The Rolling Stones uncovered the truth of an enduring condition that we all must face and must "deal with." I am not so sure about the solution they would ultimately offer ... but in their initial intuition they proved to be very "Orthodox!"

It was good seeing many of you at the service so that the remembrance of God and thankfulness for the glorious gift of life was further planted in our minds and hearts.

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.

 

 

 

To Whom - or What - Do We Bow Down?

Dear Parish Faithful,

Whenever we venerate the Cross liturgically, as now during the Feast of the Exaltation/Elevation of the Cross, we sing that powerful hymn, "Before Thy Cross, we bow down in worship, O Master, and Thy holy Resurrection we glorify." 

That hymn, which is sung three times, is accompanied by our three prostrations, as we actually/literally bow down before the Cross in adoration of our Lord Who ascended the Cross for our salvation. This is an act of worship, in that we worship Jesus Christ - "One of the Holy Trinity" - as our Lord, God and Savior. 

The outward act of making a prostration is meant to be an expression of our inward faith precisely in Christ. The outward manifests the inward. The Apostle Paul writes of the "outer person" and the "inner person." (II Cor. 4:16) All of this is well and good, as this is all an aspect of our liturgical piety; this is what we "do" as Orthodox Christians.

Yet, once we leave the church, does the Holy Trinity remain the one reality that we actually worship? 

The question is a meaningful one, because the object of our worship is what we love and trust; what we desire to have enter into our lives and to direct our lives toward. What we worship is what moves us and inspires us. We could further say that what we worship is our "passion," so to speak. (I once heard Mother Ines from Guatemala say that a nun has a "passion" for God). Here is where we will gladly expend our resources of time and energy, and our actual "resources." 

The issue is complicated, because there is so much to tempt us toward other objects of worship. Do we actually worship money, sex or power - an unholy trinity if ever there was one! Of course. we say that we don't, but what is working on the inside - the "inner person?" 

If those three are too crass, and if we are joyfully beyond the temptation to worship such obvious false idols, there is still more than enough to capture our minds and hearts. The choices are limitless, as we all know. And the more abstract - or "good" or "worthy" - the more subtle the temptation. Recall the words of the Apostle Paul, who gave us the classic definition of idolatry when he wrote about those who worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator. (Rom. 1:25) 

So, are we outwardly bowing down before the Cross as a nice "religious rite" because that is what is expected of us, while we are actually bowing down inwardly to something else apart from God. We certainly want to avoid a kind of "religious dualism" that manifests itself in a church life and a secular life, each with its own object of worship - the true and living God or the many gods of idolatry.

What a privilege to be able "bow down in worship" before the Lord Who was crucified, raised and glorified for our salvation! Not an empty idol that will ultimately disappoint us, but the Savior of the world! As we proclaim at each and every Liturgy: "For Thou art our God and we know no other than Thee!" 

Great Lent and Fasting in the Age of The Screen

Dear Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,

"Enlighten me through prayers and fasting." (Forgiveness Vespers)

I would like to formulate some thoughts in writing that I have periodically raised, perhaps in homilies or post-Liturgy discussions. Perhaps I can aim for a bit more precision and over-all coverage in the process.

Within the context of the beginning of Great Lent and our ascetical effort during this season, commonly called fasting, I raised the issue of not only fasting from certain foods and drink - the most basic aspect of asceticism because of our sheer dependence on food and drink - but also of "fasting" from the amount of time we spend daily before a variety of screens - television, computer, movie, smartphones, etc.

This raises the issue of "Orthodoxy and technology," a fascinating issue and one that should generate a good deal of theological/spiritual reflection when we think for a moment of our overwhelming dependency in the contemporary world on technology. We may be able to live without technology, but we would hardly be able to function without it. However, my goal is much more modest, as I will explain momentarily.

Without entering into a philosophical/theological discussion about technology, we can at least state that Orthodoxy is in no way anti-technological. Although some Orthodox bishops, priests, and monastics may awaken visions of the Amish, there is no real similarity in worldview when it comes to technology. You may just contact any one of those Orthodox persons through their computers and smartphones - but not the Amish! Or you would be impressed by the websites and over-all computer sophistication of both Orthodox seminaries and monasteries.

 

The Church has never moved to suppress technology or, for that matter, any progress in all of the sciences. This is a crucial aspect of our human capacity to think and create, setting us apart from the rest of the animal world. Yet, one more issue unavoidably related to this is that of the abuse of technology, when it is severed from any clear moral and ethical restraint. Our thinkers and theologians are struggling to keep up with the exponential and seemingly daily moral/ethical challenges that arise out of the obsessive desire to keep pushing forward the frontier of technological progress.

Avoiding these "heavier" issues in this reflection, I would just like to address the more modest issue of our fasting during Great Lent. Or, of expanding our understanding of fasting to now include the time spent before our various screens as already mentioned above. It is, after all, Great Lent. Some modest - should that be substantive? - changes in lifestyle, or the environments that we create in our homes is an important factor in the over-all lenten effort.

With the ubiquitous screen, the questions arise: Outside of our professional obligations and responsibilities, just how attracted, attached, obsessed or, as extreme as this may sound, "addicted" are we to them? How much of that precious commodity of time do we spend in front of screens that could at best be described as distraction, amusement, entertainment, "killing time," etc.? Can we break through the cycles of surfing, shopping, game-playing, facebooking, texting, twittering and blogging that devour huge amounts of our time? And can we show some restraint for the sake of relationships and more serious pursuits which I hope would attract us during Great Lent especially?

To formulate the challenge before us, I would like to turn to an essay written by Jacob Weisner, and printed in the New York Review of Books (actually about three years ago now). Under the title, "We Are Endlessly Hooked," he informs us that:

Americans spend an average of five and a half hours a day with digital media, more that half of that time on mobile devices, according to the research firm eMarketer. ... Three quarters of eighteen-to-twenty-four-year-olds say that they reach for their phones immediately upon waking up in the morning. Once out of bed, we check our phones 221 times a day - an average of every 4.3 minutes - according to a UK study. This number may be too low, since people tend to underestimate their own mobile use. In a 2015 Gallup survey, 61 percent of people said that they checked their phones less frequently than others they knew.

Informative and to the point! And something to think about in a season of restraint and re-prioritizing. Another author, Sherry Turkle, a clinical psychologist and sociologist who teaches at MIT, in her book Reclaiming Conversation, claims that this dependence on such devices severely undermines human relationships - from family members to romantic attachments. The lack of human connection caused by excessive device connection is leaving us disconnected as human beings. In fact, she speaks of "disconnect anxiety." For her, the young person locked into the virtual world of social media is now claiming: "I share, therefore I am." We are losing the capacity for reading, playing, creating and conversing.

The unavoidable questions arise: Are our families and friendships suffering deficiencies in those time-honored activities that are based on mental agility, socializing skills and the deepening or loving relationships? Is it dinner and then off to the screen? Have we mastered the "art of distraction?" If so, can we possibly be surprised if we find it difficult to pray effectively - that is with some concentration and focus?

There is a possible alternative approach: Superfluous time spent before the screen, can now be redirected and spent renewing those activities that are either intellectually stimulating (a good book or creative project); or conducive to personal interaction (game playing); or, on a deeper level, "face-to-face" communion (conversing)? Many years ago, in a paper she wrote on this subject, our own parishioner, Emily Farison, had this to say:

Because people do not communicate in person, words and meanings can get misconstrued all too easily. One cannot observe facial expressions or hear tones of voice through the internet, both of which allow the listener to garner a well-rounded impression of what the speaker intends to express ... Nothing compares to quality time given to a person, where one really listens and focuses on getting to know his friends. Human beings are so complex that one cannot get to know anyone very deeply in a diminutive span of time.

Can you imagine a facebook entry that states: "In observing Great Lent, this site will be inactive until April 27, the day I celebrate the Resurrection of Christ?!" You might just face massive "unfriending" for that one!

What about the screen of the smartphone? This is a wonderful tool for communication, that has even been "life-saving" as we all know of some such stories. You may have to be a modern-day Luddite to argue against the positive use of the smartphone. We acknowledge the important call, the encouraging call, the "where-in-the-world is my child?" call, even the "emergency" call. But these are not what need to occupy us at the moment.

Here also other questions arise: Beyond all of that, has the smartphone become an extension of our very being? Does it seem to be permanently glued to our ears and/or attached to our hands? Are we lost without it? Do we call and chat in order to ... call and chat? Are we "apping" our minds into a kind of stupor? (What happened to the spiritual gift of silence?) After all, just a few years ago, we did live without such phones.

There are styles, colors, sizes, and an endless array of features that turn the smartphone into either a status symbol, a toy, or even as one of those portable idols we read about in the Bible - primarily for adults, of course. (Though, at what age now are children equipped with their own phones?). Texting and twittering are producing a certain type of "illiteracy" that is making a wince-creating wreck of the English language, as in: "luv u." Grammar, spelling, and compound sentences are treated as intrusive. The menus are astonishing for their complexity. The internet is now on your phone! And it is also a ready-made camera: We now live in the age of the "selfie."

Is it possible or even meaningful to show any restraint when living in an age of the screen? If not, then we may be facing the following downward trajectory that can quickly spiral out of control: Attractions become attachments; attachments become obsessions; and obsessions become addictions. Or, as the holy Fathers teach, we become the playthings of our "passions." We are no longer in control, but under control of our impulses, or of the technology mentioned above.

As asceticism is not puritanism, so restraint is not repression. All of our ascetically lenten efforts are ultimately directed to our freedom and liberation - to some degree at least - from the myriad dependencies that occupy our bodies and souls. To fast from meat but then to sit in front of the computer for hours surfing, shopping, game-playing, facebooking and blogging somehow points to a disconnect with the over-all goal of Great Lent as a "school of repentance," or "journey toward Pascha."

Professionally and vocationally, we may be living in the age of the screen. I know that I am. I enjoy and try and make something positive of a "cyberspace ministry," in fact. But I also waste a lot of time in front of that same screen. The irony of writing this meditation on the computer and then launching it out into cyberspace so you will have one more thing to read, is not lost on me.

But the challenge remains to retain a degree of freedom from the technological web that can bind us so tightly. Redirecting a lot of our energy - and time! - to prayer, almsgiving and fasting; the reading of the Scriptures and the lenten liturgical services of the Church; "quality time" with family members and friends, can create in us the joy of liberation from those very bonds. The prominent French Orthodox thinker Jean-Claude Larchet has recently said: "Disconnect to Reconnect!" Sounds like good Lenten advice in the age of the ubiquitous screen.

Fr. Steven

Forty Shopping (and Fasting) Days Until Christmas

Dear Parish Faithful,

Here is a meditation from a few years back - and one that is also in my new book in a slightly different form - that I do not overly hesitate to send yet again, because the issues presented here for us to think hard about ("meditate"), are certainly with us today and are far from being resolved: "There is nothing new under the sun." I hope everyone is prepared to make a real effort to embrace the forty-day Nativity Fast on a level that works for you and your family and that commits us to the life of the Church in a meaningful manner. If we are not prepared, perhaps what you read here will alert you to the Season we are now entering. 

~ Fr. Steven

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Dear Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,

Forty Shopping (and Fasting) Days Until Christmas

Today, 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 today.  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 between the two, 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. And to be an ascetic is not to be a fanatic, but to follow the words of Christ who taught us to practice "self-denial" (MK. 8:34). 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.   

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 failing 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.”

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. In such a way, these forty days will result in a meaningful journey toward the mystery of the Incarnation rather than in an exhaustive excursion toward a vapid winter holiday. The choice is ours to make.