A follow-through commentary

Source: uncutmountainsupply.com

A fine follow-through commentary on the mediation sent our earlier this morning, from Shannon Grubb:

I may have said this before, but what has always struck me the most in reading this parable was that the Pharisee's prayer includes no petition whatever: he doesn't ask anything of God. And that, to me, shows his confidence in his Self and works. For we all need 'something' from God on a continual basis, and indeed, even when at special times we think we'll offer God a prayer of pure thanksgiving, somehow petitions always sneak in. And God does not mind those, I do not think. So for the Pharisee to stand at the temple and ask for nothing - for himself or even for his fellow man - betrays a hardened heart. 

Secondly, I'm about half way through St. Athanasius' Life of Antony (my first time!) I believe it was Antony (if so, I haven't reached that part yet, but I could be wrong) who had a vision where he saw, stretching between him and his destination (God) a field completely full of snares and traps (the Devil's), all the way to the horizon. He asked how it would be in any way possible to navigate through all of those. And the answer came back, "By humility." Also many monks since have maintained that humility is the surest way to defeat the Enemy. And I think it was the same saint who was told "you fast, but Satan does not eat. You keep vigil, but Satan never sleeps (either). However, there is one thing he cannot do: humble himself." Anyway, all good lessons on the necessity of humility. 

Shannon

The Publican and the Pharisee, and the Struggle for Humility

 

Source: uncutmountainsupply.com

The parable of the Publican and the Pharisee confronts us with a stark contrast between religious pride and self-righteousness, on the one hand; and heartfelt humility and repentance on the other hand. The Pharisee, of course, is the one who manifests the pride, and it is the publican who manifests the humility. The Lord closes this short parable by declaring the Pharisee “condemned” and the publican “justified.” This is a genuine “reversal of fortune” upending our preconceived notions of piety and righteousness, as forcefully as this must have struck those who initially heard the parable as delivered by Christ. Yet, that reversal of fortune should not obscure other notable factors that are also working within this parable.

For Christ is not condemning the actions of the Pharisee. The Lord is not telling us through this parable that the Pharisee – or anyone else, and that includes us – is wasting both time and energy by going up to the temple to pray, by fasting and by tithing. These are not being condemned as empty practices, thus consigning all such practitioners to the barren realm of hypocrisy and religious formalism. We, as contemporary Christians, are encouraged to enter the church with regularity and offer our prayer to God; to practice the self-restraint and discipline of fasting; and to share our financial resources with the generosity implied by the biblical tithe. We could add other practices to that. In fact, we would do well to imitate the outward actions of the Pharisee in practicing our Faith! 

Yet, on a deeper and far more significant level, the Pharisee got it all wrong. He was consumed by a self-satisfied and self-righteous interior attitude that left no room for God to transform him by divine grace. The Pharisee’s prayer was seemingly directed to God, but in reality it was an exercise in self-congratulations (for not being like other sinful men). Here was a man who did not suffer over low self-esteem! The Pharisee was self-centered, but not God-centered. Something went wrong, and the self replaced God as the center of his energy and passion. The exterior forms of piety that he practiced were disconnected from the interior realm of the heart, where God is meant to dwell and, again, transform the human person from within, so that each person becomes less self-centered and more God-centered with time and patience.

Based on our knowledge of the role of the publican in first century Israel, we can be assured that Christ was not “justifying” the particular “life-style” that made the publicans such notorious and despised figures of that world. In fact, they were always included with “harlots” when reference was being made to the marginalized, if not ostracized, members of first-century Judaism. Rather, the publican was declared “justified” for the very fact that he recognized and was profoundly struck by just how sinful he had become in cheating and defrauding his neighbor as a hated tax-collector working for the occupying Roman authority. He had the experience of true contrition of heart; he realized that he stood self-condemned before the Lord; yet he did not despair but cried out plaintively: “God, be merciful to me a sinner!” (Lk. 18:13) 

Human persons are not saved as sinners, but as sinners who in humility repent before God and then offer the fruits of repentance.

The hymnography for the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee exhorts us to flee from pride and to embrace humility. We live in a culture obsessed with the self and thus not only susceptible, but openly promoting, both pride and vainglory. “In your face” is widely seen as a “heroic” gesture of self-defiance and legitimate self-promotion. Humility is treated as weakness and ineffectual for “getting ahead” or for fulfilling one’s desires. We hear the voice of the Lord and we hear the voice of the world. It is our choice as to which voice we will listen to. And that choice will be determined to a great extent by just what the desires that move us to action are actually for. “For where your treasure is there will your heart be also.” (Matt. 6:21)

Coffee With Sister Vassa -- WERE THE CHURCH FATHERS A SUCCESS?

 

Remember those leading you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith imitate, considering the outcome of their conduct. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them. (Hebr 13:7-9)

The quote above is from today’s Epistle-reading for the (NC) feast of the Three Holy Hierarchs, Sts. Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom. This tells us that the words above, initially written about the Apostles and others who spread the word of God in the Early Church, are todaybeing applied to these holy bishops from the 4th century: We are to remember them and imitate the faith they passed on to us in Jesus Christ, Who remains “ the same yesterday, today and forever,” rather than be carried to and fro by “ various and strange doctrines.” We are also to “ consider the outcome of their conduct”; the consequences of the way they lived and taught.

What was the “outcome” of the way of life and teaching of the Three Holy Hierarchs? Eventually, years after they died all three came to be venerated as great Church Fathers in both East and West. But this was not the universally-accepted opinion of them among their peers, other bishops, at the time of their deaths. St. Basil, who had battled various heresies taught by bishops who distorted the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, died in 379 at age 49, two years before these controversies were more or less resolved at the Second Ecumenical Council of 381. His friend, Gregory the Theologian (a.k.a. of Nazianzus), who did initially lead that Council as Archbishop of Constantinople, resigned from that position quite dramatically before the Council ended, frustrated by the partisan politics among his peers, which also involved opposition to him. He did resume his position as Bishop of Nazianzus for two years, during which he battled the Apollinarians, but retired for health-reasons and spent the last six years of his life on his family estate. As for St. John Chrysostom, most readers will know that he died in exile in 407, reviled at the time by all the leading bishops in the East.

So, if we “ consider the outcome of their conduct,” we can see that in the short-run, during their earthly lives, the Three Holy Hierarchs did not achieve ‘success’ within the church of their time. In the long-run, we have come to celebrate them as the winners, as those whose hearts were “established by grace,” as the author of Hebrews writes. The lesson I glean from all this is that I should take pause and abstain from judgment today, when we observe the controversies about which bishops of our Orthodox Churches are ‘canonical’ or ‘uncanonical.’ We might also take pause and relax about judging the outcomes of the battles we fight in our own personal and political lives. Considering “ the outcome of the conduct” of the great Church Fathers, largely marginalized at the end of their lives, Lord, grant us wisdom and patience, as You remain in our midst, “ the same yesterday, today and forever.”

Fragments for Friday

 

Source: antiochian.org

Last Sunday, January 25, we commemorated St. Gregory the Theologian (+391). Truly one of the most illustrious and beloved of the Church Fathers. I have been reading his biography recently, and some of his theological writings. Because his name is so linked with the role of the theologian; and because of his reputation for contributing to the Church's theological tradition with great depth and insight; someone may react and say: "He is too difficult for me to understand!" Not necessarily true. When reading a passage from St. Gregory as that below, we should simply delight in his open love for God and desire to know God. And the saint is inviting us to that same desire for communion with the living God. Theology is the pursuit of "words adequate to God," and St. Gregory, though acknowledging the impossibility of circumscribing God with our human language, expresses that with both eloquence and depth. A passage worthy to ponder!

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God always was and is and will be - or better, God always is. For "was" and "will be" are divisions of the time we experience, of a nature that flows away; but he is always, and gives himself this name when he identifies himself to Moses on the mountain. For he contains the whole of being in himself, without beginning or end, like an endless, boundless ocean of reality; he extends beyond all of notions of time and nature, and is skeptically grasped by the mind alone, but only very dimly and in a limited way; he is known not directly but indirectly, as one image is derived from another to form a single representation of the truth: fleeing before it is grasped, escaping before it is fully known, shining on our guiding reason - provided we have been purified - as a swift, fleeting flash of lightening shines in our eyes. And he does this, it seems to me, so that, insofar as it can be comprehended, the Divine might draw us to itself ...

From Oration 38, "On the Theophany"

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St. Gregory the Theologian will be commemorated this morning at the Liturgy as one of the The Three Hierarches, the other two being St. Basil the Great (+379) and St. John Chrysostom (+407). A veritable "feast of theology!"

COFFEE WITH SISTER VASSA -- “REALISM” vs. FAITH, HOPE & LOVE

But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:7-8)

There’s a lot of talk today, about the need to be ‘realistic’ and accept the world as it is and ourselves as we are, meaning we don’t have to worry our pretty little heads about the things that are wrong with ourselves and our world. But the Holy Spirit calls us and liberates us to change the things we can change, according to our various vocations, through faith, hope and love. The vision that opens up to us through faith, hope and love ‘sees’ more than ‘things as they are’; it sees things as they will be, in God, at “the end of all things” that St. Peter says “is at hand.” You could say that this vision also sees less, in the sense that “love will cover a multitude of sins”; in the sense that we let things go, because of our “fervent love for one another.”

This doesn’t actually mean ‘not seeing’ the multitude of sins in ourselves and others. St. Peter in today’s Epistle-reading calls us to be both “serious and watchful” in our prayers, like grown-ups. It means seeing ourselves and others, warts and all, through the prism of love, as God sees us, always envisioning our potential, to continue becoming who we are in His eyes, His beloved children. And this is not just an intellectual exercise, which remains in our already-mentioned pretty little heads. The more we clarify our vision, in “serious and watchful” prayer in communion with God’s Spirit, our faith, hope and love grow and liberate us to move forward and act in ways that foster in ourselves and others the change we desire; the change we believe in, the change we hope for, and the change we love, as we experience it gradually in and among ourselves. 

Let me not be a slave to “realism” this Wednesday, but let God into my heart with His undying faith, hope and love for all of us and our world. God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Amen!