'Mankind was my business!'

Dear Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,

The over-all theme of the Parable of the Great Supper, heard a few Sundays ago at the Liturgy, had to do with how being "busy" can easily lead to excuse-making of a dubious kind because we then justify postponing our relationship with God based upon those very excuses. But as Christ said in the parable, the Master of the Supper was not impressed.

"Business! Mankind was my business!"

This somehow connects in my mind with a certain literary classic. Over the years I have read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (and seen more than one film version!). For me, one of the most effective passages in the book, is toward the beginning, when the Ghost of Jacob Marley visits Scrooge on Christmas Eve. By this time, the miserly and miserable character of Scrooge has been masterfully etched in by Dickens. And to this day, the name of Scrooge is synonymous with avarice, greed, and a joyless and meaningless accumulation of profit. Earlier, Scrooge had articulated some of the utilitarian philosophy of the 19th c. when he coldly said in reference to the poor and prisoners, "If they would rather die they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."

The Ghost of Marley returns to haunt Scrooge, but Marley himself is in great torment and anguish. Imprisoned in chains that he cannot free himself of, Marley is doomed to roam the earth as a restless spirit witnessing human suffering that he cannot alleviate because he ignored that suffering selfishly during his time on earth. Of the chains, Marley says:

"I wear the chain I forged in life. I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it."

 

With a deep, bitter regret, Marley then confesses:

"My spirit never walked beyond our counting-house - mark me! - in life my spirit never roved beyond the narrow limits of our money-changing hole; and weary journeys lie before me!... Not to know that no space of regret can make amends for one's life opportunity misused! Yet such was I! Oh! such was I!"

 

At this point in this somewhat macabre dialogue between the two, Scrooge begins to grope for some signs of hope and relief as he intuitively realizes that Marley is speaking words of warning to him for his cold-hearted scorn for the rest of humanity. When Scrooge protests the working of an unseen providence, by saying "But you were always a good man of business, Jacob," we then hear what may be the most significant - and well-known - passage in this scene:

"Business!" cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. "Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!"

It held up its chains at arm's length, as if that were the cause of all its unavailing grief, and flung it heavily upon the ground again.

"At this time of the rolling year," the spectre said, "I suffer most. Why did I walk through crowds of fellow beings with my eyes turned down, and never raise them to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode! Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me!"

 

Anticipating the regret of a life not well-lived is a frightening thought. Especially if it comes down to having been too busy!

Good literature is capable of leaving strong indelible images that are much more effective than a well-argued treatise. Dickens' characters were always exaggerated or "larger than life," as we may say. But they then "typify" a great deal about life in the process.

Besides the necessary business that makes up our lives, and which must be done carefully and responsibly, just what else are we so "busy" with? Does that business also lead us away from charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence? Are we presently scurrying around, making sure that we will have a "Merry Christmas," while also turning our eyes downward so that we too cannot "see" the blessed Star that guides us to the Incarnate Christ? Are we going to somehow be able to "fit" the Church into our "Business?" Both the parable from Sunday and Dickens' classic A Christmas Carol raise the issue of our stewardship of time and the Christian truth that "mankind is our business."

 

The Great Mystery of the Incarnation

Dear Parish Faithful,

 

Christmas is actually the Feast of the Nativity/Birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is actually the Feast of the Incarnation - of the Word becoming flesh (JN. 1:14). As we draw closer to December 25, I would like to provide everyone with a modest-sized anthology of excerpts from the Fathers of the Church and contemporary theologians on precisely that great Mystery. These texts will also include the Mystery of the Motherhood of the Virgin Mary; for it is impossible to speak of the Incarnation without including the Mother of the Incarnate One. The Virgin Mary is bound to her Son (and God) in a manner wholly unique to her incredible vocation. Se is the Mother of the Son of God who received His flesh from her. We should marvel all the more, when we realize that she was chosen for this vocation from all eternity. These texts are meant to be deeply-pondered over (as the Theotokos pondered these things in her own heart) in the hope that we continue to contemplate the Mystery "hidden before the ages" with a sense of awe and prayerful thanksgiving. And perhaps these texts will assist us in focusing our dispersed minds and hearts that are driven to distraction by the other attractions of the Season, on the Incarnate Lord.

This first text from St. Nicholas Cabasilas (+14th c.) has become something of a "classic" as it beautifully balances the divine initiative and the free response of the Virgin Mary:

The Incarnation of the Word was not only the work of Father, Son and Spirit - the first consenting, the second descending, and the third overshadowing - but it was also the work of the will and faith of the Virgin. Without the three divine persons this design could not have been set in motion; but likewise the plan could not have been carried into effect without the consent and faith of the all-pure Virgin. Only after teaching and persuading her does God make her his Mother and receive from her the flesh which she consciously wills to offer him. Just as he was conceived by his own free choice, so in the same way she became his Mother voluntarily and with her free consent.

Here is an excerpt from a homily by Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow, a very prominent hierarch from 19th c. Russia. Met. Philaret was known and respected not only as an excellent theologian, but also as a genuine ascetic, and an outstanding preacher. In fact, he may be best known for his superb homilies in which deep thought and a kind of exalted style of expression combine to impart a sense of the majesty and holiness of God in His activity toward the world. The following short text is actually a small excerpt from a homily on the Feast of the Annunciation. But the Incarnation actually occurs when the Son of God is conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Thus this passage bears witness to the essential role that the Mother of God fulfills in the Incarnation, very similar to what is found in the text above from St. Nicholas Cabasilas.

During the days of the creation of the world, when God uttered his living and mighty words: Let there be ... the Creator's words brought creatures into existence. But on the day, unique in the existence of the world, when Holy Mary uttered her humble and obedient "Let it be," I would hardly dare to express what took place then - the word of the creature caused the Creator to descend into the world. God uttered his word here also: You will conceive in your womb and bear a son ... he will be great ... and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. But again that which is divine and incomprehensible occurs - the word of God itself defers its action, allowing itself to be delayed by the word of Mary: How can this be? Her humble "Let it be" was necessary for the realization of God's mighty Let it be. What secret power is thus contained in these simple words: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your will" - that it produces an effect so extraordinary? This marvelous power is Mary's pure and perfect self-dedication to God, a dedication of her will, of her thought, of her soul, of her entire being, of all her faculties, of all her actions, of all her hopes and expectations.

 

The following is from St. Cyril of Alexandria (+444), the great patriarch of that thriving cosmopolitan city, and perhaps the Church's greatest "Christologian" (if such a term actually exists). Or, we could say that St. Cyril is one of the Church's greatest theologians who wrote with exceptional penetration, depth and insight about the Person of Christ. In the heat of a very polemical atmosphere, in which St. Cyril had to defend the Church's understanding of the Person of Christ against the inadequate, misleading, and even heretical teachings of one Nestorius, St. Cyril was able to explain the union of the divine and human natures in the one Person of Christ in such a convincing manner, that his approach is to this day accepted as the criterion for Orthodoxy. He did this by defending the term Theotokos for the Virgin Mary when that term was attacked and rejected by Nestorius. If the Virgin Mary gave birth to the Second Person of the Trinity - the eternal Word and Son of the Father - then she must be granted the title of Theotokos, for God was born of her in the flesh that He received from her.

His most complete treatment of an Orthodox understanding of the Person of Christ (Christology) may be in his major work known as On the Unity of Christ. Below is just one excerpt from a book overflowing with endless insights into the Mystery of the Incarnation. Notice how St. Cyril endlessly develops the paradox of God becoming man, building on and extending the Apostle Paul's pregnant phrase: "He was rich but became poor for our sake, so that we might be enriched by his poverty" (II COR. 8:9) This became one of the Fathers most cherished methods for explaining the wonder of the Incarnation.

Christ is understood as the Heavenly Man, not as if He brought down His flesh from on high and out of heaven, but because the Word who is God came down from out of heaven and entered our likeness, that is to say submitted to birth from a woman according to the flesh, while ever remaining what he was, that is one from on high, from heaven, superior to all things as God even with the flesh. This is what the divine John says about him somewhere: "He who comes from above is above all" (JN. 3:31). He remained Lord of all things even when he came, for the economy, in the form of a slave, and this is why the mystery of Christ is truly wonderful.

... Indeed the mystery of Christ runs the risk of being disbelieved precisely because it is so incredibly wonderful. For God was in humanity. He who was above all creation was in our human condition; the invisible one was made visible in the flesh; he who if from the heavens and from on high was in the likeness of earthly things; the immaterial one could be touched; he who is free in his own nature came in the form of a slave; he who blesses all creation became accursed; he who is all righteousness was numbered among transgressors; life itself came in the appearance of death. All this followed because the body which tasted death belonged to no other but to him who is the Son by nature. Can you find any fault in any of this ...

On the Unity of Christ, p. 61)

 

Whatever age within the Church's life we turn to - the fifth, fourteenth, and nineteenth centuries as above - we hear the consistent and incredible teaching that the "Word became flesh ..." (Jn. 1:14) And this is a saving word through which we become the children of God. 

'Schmemann Speaks' - SVS posts new recordings by Fr Alexander Schmemann

 

Dear Parish Faithful,

In remembrance and honor of the repose of Fr. Alexander Schmemann, St. Vladimir's Seminary issued this letter with links today. This sounds as if it will be fascinating, so I encourage everyone to spend some time with these talks by Fr. Alexander.

__________

 

 

Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!

Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary has begun concluding its special year of celebration in honor of former dean and renowned theologian, Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann (September 13, 1921–December 13, 1983). The year 2021 marks the 100th anniversary of Fr Alexander's birth.

Today, on December 13, the date of Fr Alexander's remembrance in the Church, we share with you another powerful, timeless message resurrected from archived recordings of Schmemann. In it, Fr Alexander speaks of two fundamental reductions of Christianity, which endure in our day, that obscure what is "horribly difficult"—but truly life-giving—about following Jesus Christ.

But as 2021 comes to a close, there is more to come as part of the "Year of Schmemann" celebrations. We will be posting the final Schmemann Speaks podcast episodes (now up to 14 episodes) of the year. The second volume of Fr Alexander's A Voice for Our Time: Radio Liberty Talks is forthcoming (release date TBA). Finally, we'll send you details in the coming days about next month's annual Fr Alexander Schmemann Memorial Lecture.

May the memory of Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann be eternal! 

Watch "Lies about Christianity"

Schmemann Speaks Podcast

SVS Press Schmemann Collection,

including the most recent title:

A Voice for Our Time: Radio Liberty Talks, Vol. 1

Three Key Events on December 13

Dear Parish Faithful& Friends in Christ,

 

Today's date of December 13 has a great deal of significance for Orthodox Christians in North America, especially for those of us within the Orthodox Church in America, and even for our local parish of Christ the Savior/Holy Spirit. 

On this date we commemorate the repose in the Lord of Blessed Fr. Herman of Alaska (+1837). We had a wonderful Liturgy this morning in order to commemorate St. Herman's rebirth into the Kingdom of God. 

I have provided the link to his Life from the OCA website. It is very detailed and thus quite lengthy and may take more than one sitting to read through it all. But St. Herman is one of our few North American saints and we should get to know of his wonderful and holy life as well as possible:

Life of St Herman of Alaska (OCA)

In addition, I would like to include a paragraph from Fr. Thomas Hopko's reflection on Fr. Herman as found in his popular book The Winter Pascha. The entire chapter was read at an appropriate point in the Liturgy:

"By American standards, St. Herman of Alaska, like the Lord Jesus Himself, was a miserable failure. He made no name for himself. He was not in the public eye. He wielded no power. He owned no property. He had few possessions, if any at all. He had no worldly prestige. He played no role in human affairs. He partook of no carnal pleasures. He made no money. He died in obscurity among outcast people. Yet today, more that a hundred years after his death, his icon is venerated in thousands of churches and his name is honored by millions of people whom he is still trying to teach to seek the kingdom of God and its righteousness which has been brought to the world by the King who was born in a cavern and killed on a cross. The example of this man is crucial to the celebration of Christmas - especially in America." (p. 47-48)

 

It was on December 13, 1983, that Fr. Alexander Schmemann also reposed in the Lord. Fr. Alexander is one of the greatest figures in the emergence of an autocephalous Orthodox Church here in North America. It is Fr. Alexander who initiated the liturgical revival in our parishes that make us now strong eucharistic communities.

I studied under him and served with him as an acolyte and briefly as a deacon in my three years at St. Vladimir's seminary in New York. When our daughter Sophia was born, he visited our humble apartment in Yonkers, NY to see her, congratulate us and spend some time with us. And believe me, Fr. Schmemann visiting your apartment was a big thing!

Again, to quote Fr. Hopko from The Winter Pascha:

"For those who knew him, and those who will yet come to know him, the day of Fr. Alexander's death will always be a precious part of the Church's celebration of the Christmas-Epiphany season." (p. 49)

When Fr. Schmemann died in 1983, a brief tribute to him was filmed by CBS News. Reminding me of this, Mother Paula (Vicki Bellas) sent me the following link to this. I would like to share it with anyone who may be interested:

CBS Documentary on Fr. Alexander Schmemann (OCN)

Fr. Alexander appears briefly at the beginning, so there is a brief glimpse of him and his style. The rest is a series of tributes to him from various bishops, scholars, friends, etc. including the words of Fr. Thomas Hopko, who was his son-in-law. The video ends with Fr. Alexander's funeral, an extraordinary event that I returned to New York for. 

I recall approaching Matushka Anne Hopko (Fr. Alexander's daughter) and making a comment about the unique atmosphere of the funeral. She smiled, and then replied: "Yes, just like Pascha!" That response caught the essence of Fr. Schmemann's life - and his death.

Interestingly enough there is an entry on Fr. Alexander at Wikipedia with a listing of all of his publications. Here is the link:

Fr. Alexander Schmemann (Wikipedia)

And it was also on December 13, that our former parishioner Mother Paula was tonsured as a nun at the Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Ellwood City, PA. I believe this was in 2010. Mother Paula was known in the parish before her tonsuring by her name "in the world" of Vicki Bellas. She transferred to our parish in the early 90's and stayed with us until 2003 when she left for the monastery to "test" her vocation. I was the one who drove her to the monastery in the Fall of that year. 

When the time for her tonsuring came, a sizeable group from our parish made the trip for the service. That group consisted of: Presvytera Deborah and myself, Roberta Robedeau and our former parishioners Dan and Cristina Georgescu, together with the Callender family and Jeannie Markvan and Elena Drach. We somehow managed to stay just ahead of a snowstorm blowing through the region at that time. 

The hieromonk Fr. Alexander Cutler [formerly the Igumen at St. John the Theologian Skete in Hiram, OH] served as the celebrant of the tonsuring, and Fr. Thomas Hopko and I served together with him. It was an emotional event for all of us who were there. 

Many people journey through life, never quite finding a true "vocation," so Mother Paula was blessed in discovering hers through faithfulness to Christ and a life of prayer and service. It is not a parish footnote that a monastic has come out of our parish community. Rather, it is a true blessing. We can only say "well done" and wish her Many Years!

See also: A Blessed Event ~ The Tonsure of Mother Paula

 

Closing Thoughts on our 2021 Fall Adult Education Class

 

Dear Parish Faithful,

 

We have concluded the six sessions of this year's Fall Adult Education Class. Participation was excellent (one of our parish "young adults" joined us as well as some non-Orthodox visitors) and the discussions quite lively. Our book of choice was For the Life of the World - Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church. The two main editors are David Bentley Hart and Archdeacon John Chryssavgis, both very prominent Orthodox theologians today. This title, in addition to echoing the words of Christ, is clearly a tribute to Fr. Alexander Schmemann's now classic study with the same title, written back in 1963. The centrality of the Eucharist, so much a part of our Church life today, but something that was like a new revelation when uncovered by Fr. Alexander more than half a century ago, permeates this new book and is at the heart of the Church's moral and ethical vision for a genuine Orthodox social ethos:

"The Eucharist, in being celebrated and shared by the faithful, ever and again constitutes the true Christian polity, and shines out as an icon of God's Kingdom as it will be realized in a redeemed, transfigured, and glorious creation. As such the Eucharist is a prophetic sign as well, at once a critique of all political regimes insofar as they fall short of divine love and an invitation to all peoples to seek first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness. [Matt. 6:33]" (p. 9)

This allows for a further key affirmation:

“The Kingdom of God alone is the Christian’s first and and last loyalty, and all other allegiances are at most provisional, transient, partial, and incidental.” (p. 11)

 

Although referring to For the Life of the World as a "book," it is actually better described as a "document," because there is a chosen group of distinguished Orthodox scholars who were behind the final text. They are all listed in the front of the book. This book/document was conceived and written in response to the directive of His All-holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who blessed this theological commission to articulate a sustained and theologically-informed response to the pressing social issues of today's complex and, at times, chaotic world. But a world that is loved by God and saved by the advent of Christ, and which is still spiritually hungry for that gift of salvation, though tragically unaware of God's gift and desire "that all should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth." (I Tim. 2:4 )

The strength of the book is in its fidelity to the Tradition of the Church, expressed in the Preface as follows:

"No claim is advanced in these pages that was not arrived at through a scrupulous contemplation of the biblical, patristic, dogmatic, and theolgical sources of the tradition as a whole." (Preface, p. xviii)

 

Discussing the complexities of life in a (post)modern world will inevitably lead to a real difference of opinions as to how to approach and try to solve some of our more pressing social issues. The authors of the book were aware of this and humbly acknowledged it in the text itself, by writing of the document's purpose in the Conclusion:

"It is offered, therefore, with the caution and the humble acknowledgment that it is in many respects quite inadequate as a comprehensive statement of the social ethos of the Church. In that sense, it is at most an invitation to further and deeper reflection on the parts of the faithful." (p. 107)

 

Nevertheless, this document is so impressive precisely because it is so theologically literate, and its uncompromising adherence to the Gospel so imbues every position articulated in the document's content, that it is nearly impossible to dismiss out-of-hand any of the general principles that it elucidates as something taught, believed and promoted by the Orthodox Church. As the reader may challenge some of the claims of the document; so the document, in turn, will challenge even some of our most strongly-held positions on social issues. The document invites us to think theologically not politically. I am deeply thankful that through such a document as this one we, as Orthodox Christians, are fearlessly engaging in a meaningful dialogue with the twenty-first century world - the world we live in! Here are a few choice examples, somewhat randomly chosen, but passages that generated some of our more lively discussions in our class sessions:

“There is only one human race, to which all persons belong, and all are called as one to become a single people of God in the creator. … And yet, sadly, the rise of new forms of political and nationalist extremism has even resulted in the infiltration of various Orthodox communities by individuals committed to race-theory.” 

“Already in the womb each of us is a spiritual creature, a person formed in God’s image and created to rejoice in God’s presence. From the first generation of Christians, therefore, the Church has abhorred the practice of elective abortion." (p. 32)

"In the late capitalist world, old age - once recognized as something venerable - is often treated as something of an embarrassment, and the elderly as something of a burden and nuisance." (p. 39)

“The pursuit of social justice and civil equity – provision for the poor and shelter for the homeless, protection for the weak, welcome for the displaced, and assistance for the disabled – is not merely an ethos the Church recommends for the sake of a comfortable conscience, but is a necessary means of salvation, the indispensable path to union with God in Christ, and to fail in these responsibilities is to invite condemnation before the judgment seat of God.” (p. 43)

“Nothing is more contrary to God’s will for creatures fashioned in his image and likeness than violence one against another, and nothing more sacrilegious than the organized practice of mass killing.” (p. 58)

“Minucius Felix, St. Cyprian, and Tertullian all took it for granted that, for Christians, the innocent may never slay the guilty … The prevailing view among the Fathers was essentially that the Sermon on the Mount’s prohibition of retaliation sets the standard for Christians in both the private and the public spheres, for on the cross Christ at once perfected the refusal of violence and exhausted the law’s wrath.” (p. 67)

"Orthodox Christians, then, may and should happily adopt the language of human rights when seeking to promote justice and peace among peoples and nations, and when seeking to defend the weak against the powerful, the oppressed against their oppressors, and the indigent against those who seek to exploit them." (p. 80)

"A society that protects freedom of religion is one that recognizes that it is only through the preservation of a sphere of spiritual concern, transcendent even of the interest of the state, that a People,e can sustain the moral foundations of real civil and social unity." (p. 85)

"The invention of medicines, antibiotics, vaccines, therapies for even the gravest of illnesses, and so forth, are especially glorious achievements of human creativity, and are thus also particularly precious gifts from God." (p. 94)

"The disembodied, curiously impersonal, and abstracted quality of virtual communication seems to prompt the kind of amoral and self-absorbed behavior that the real, immediate presence of another person would discourage." (p. 96)

"The desire for scientific knowledge flows from the same wellspring as faith's longing to enter ever more deeply into the mystery of God." (p. 98)

"While a modest secular order that does not impose a religion on its citizens is a perfectly good and honorable ideal, a government that restricts even ordinary expressions of religious identity and belief all too easily becomes a soft tyranny that will, in the end, create more division than unity." (p. 119)

 

I have argued for the document's capacity to sustain a very high quality of moral, ethical and theological integrity from start to finish, but I would like to choose one particular passage that to me, at least, rises near to the level of "prophetic pathos." Biblical prophets will initially sound a voice of (righteous) indignation over against unrighteousness and injustice, before they provide the voice of insight and a positive call to a renewed vision. Although expressed in the same style as the rest of the document - a language fitting for the twenty-first century - I detect a certain element of that in this passage that denounces both the ideological and then the actual dehumanization of a particular group of people in today's world who are actually deserving of our compassion:

"We have seen nativist panic encouraged in Europe, in Australia, in the Americas. In the United States, the most powerful and wealthiest nation in history - one, in fact, born out of mighty floods of immigrants from around the world - we have seen political leaders not only encouraging fear and hatred of asylum-seekers and impoverished immigrants, but even employing terror against them: abducting children from their parents, shattering families, tormenting parents and children alike, interning all of them indefinitely; denying due process to asylum-seekers, slandering and lying about those seeking refuge, deploying the military at southern borders to terrify and threaten unarmed immigrants, employing racist and nativist rhetoric against asylum-seekers for the sake of political advantage, and so forth. All such actions are assaults upon the image of God in those who seek our mercy. They are offenses against the Holy Spirit. In the name of Christ, the Orthodox Church denounces these practices, and implores those who are guilty of them to repent and to seek instead to become servants of justice and charity." (p. 91)

 

For the Life of the World - Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church begins with the magnificent affirmation so dear to all Orthodox Christians, that:

"... the human person as having been created in the image and likeness of God. To be made in God's image is to be made for free and and conscious communion and union with God in Jesus Christ, inasmuch as we are formed in, through, and for him." (p. 1)

 

This document is one long affirmation of this truth as it applies to all human beings throughout the world - from the most ancient times and pressing forward to as yet an unknown future - and then implies that we must embrace this truth in order to best create and cultivate an Orthodox ethos for the world in which we live. 

If you have yet to read through this inspiring document carefully, here is the link from our parish website of a free PDF copy of the full text, plus additional links for further study:

• Order the book from Holy Cross Orthodox Press
• Download the free PDF Study Guide for the book
• Read the book announcement from Holy Cross Orthodox Press