The Great Canon and St Mary of Egypt

Dear Parish Faithful,

Through a tree we once found death, but now we find life again through the Tree of the Cross. Let us then put to death the impulses of the passions; and with all the faithful let us pray to the Benefactor of all: that, shining with the radiance of divine actions and made beautiful by the virtues, we may attain the holy Resurrection and glorify the Savior of our souls. (Vespers of the Fifth Week of the Fast)

Another reminder that this evening (Thursday, March 29) we return to the Canon of St. Andrew of Crete. We chanted the canon at the beginning of Great Lent in four parts. On the fifth Thursday of Lent the entire canon is prescribed to be chanted. Together with the Canon, the Life of St. Mary of Egypt is read aloud in its entirety in the church. Combining the two on the parish level, we will chant an edited version of the Canon (the fourth part) and read the Life of St. Mary of Egypt. We have been doing this for about four years now. Why do we return to the Canon so late into Great Lent? A very insightful answer is provided by Fr. Alexander Schmemann in his book Great Lent:

If at the beginning of Lent this Canon was like a door leading us into repentance, now at the end of Lent it sounds like a “summary” of repentance and its fulfillment. If at the beginning we merely listened to it, now hopefully its words have become our words, our lamentation, our hope and repentance, and also an evaluation of our Lenten effort: how much of all this has truly been made ours? How far have we come along the path of this repentance? For all that which concerns us is coming to its end. From now on we are following the disciples “as they were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking on ahead of them” (MK 10:32).

(Great Lent, p. 89)

The Life of St. Mary of Egypt is quite remarkable, deeply stirring, and a verbal icon of repentance that can bring an attentive listener to tears – which I have heard and witnessed many times. It is also beautifully written, with a direct style, constant biblical allusions, and a use of literary rhetoric that is quite eloquent and moving. However, according to Panayiotis Nellas, “her life does not have as its aim simply to move the faithful.” Nellas continues:

It plays in the service an organic part which is at once deeper and more real. The Orthodox faithful know very well that the feast day of a saint is not a simple honoring of a holy person or a recollection of her life for didactic reasons. Rather, it is a real participation in her life, her struggles, her victory and her glory. The reading of her life takes place in order to bring the saint amongst us in a true and real manner with her whole life and all her struggles.

(Deification in Christ, p.166)

Manifold reasons above for keeping this evening’s service in mind – and attending – spirit, soul and body.

The service will be begin at 7:00 p.m.

Synergy in the Mystery of the Annunciation

Dear Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,

Now that we have venerated the lifegiving Wood,
with gladness let us advance upon the path of the
Fast to the Passion of Christ.
(Monday of the Fifth Week, Canon, Canticle One)

Yesterday, we celebrated the brief festal interlude of the Annunciation (March 25) that always falls during the season of Great Lent. So, the liturgy cycle for the Fourth Sunday of Great Lent also included the major hymnography for the Feast. The church temporally put aside its lenten colors to be clothed with the festal blue that distinguishes the Feasts of the Theotokos. Yet, because it is Great Lent, there is no extended afterfeast, as today is designated the Leavetaking of Annunciation. You must be spiritually aware and vigilant so that the Feast does not pass by undetected! Otherwise, we deprive ourselves of this festal commemoration – and our own mindfulness – of the Incarnation of the Son of God. The troparion of the Feast makes it clear that the Annunciation reveals the eternal mystery of God:

Today is the beginning of our salvation, the revelation of the eternal
mystery! The Son of God becomes the Son of the Virgin as Gabriel
announces the coming of Grace. Together with him let us cry to the
Theotokos: Rejoice, O Full of Grace, the Lord is with you.

The Son of God became incarnate – took on flesh and the fullness of human nature - at the mysterious “moment” of His conception in the womb of the Virgin Mary, who is the Theotokos because of her unique role in this revealed eternal mystery. As the Hymn to the Theotokos – “All of Creation Rejoices in You” - expresses it: He made your body into a throne, and your womb He made more spacious than the heavens. There is – and there can only be – a great sense of wonder and awe before the great mystery of the Son of God being conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary:

Gabriel marveled at the beauty of thy virginity and the splendor of thy
purity, and he said to Thee: O Theotokos: ‘How can I praise thee as I
should? By what name shall I invoke thee? I am troubled and amazed.
Therefore, as I was commanded, I cry out to thee: Hail, full of grace!

From the Akathist Hymn
(originally meant to praise the Annunciation to the
Theotokos)

In the Orthodox understanding of divine – human relationships; and especially as this has a direct bearing on the process of salvation; there is a clear stress on the harmonious combination of divine grace/initiative and human freedom. We, as human beings, are not saved against our will and cooperation. Divine grace and human freedom are two unequal but equally essential components of our redemption. This has been stated with great clarity and insight in a patristic formulation that has become a “classical” expression of the Orthodox understanding of synergy, which is the term used to articulate the above-mentioned harmonious balance between divine grace and human freedom. The author of this passage is St. Nicholas Cabasilas, a 14th c. Byzantine theologian (and friend of St. Gregory Palamas):

The incarnation of the Word was not only the work of Father, Son and Spirit – the first consenting, the second descending, the third overshadowing – but it was also the work of the will and the 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.

St. Nicholas has brilliantly described, expanded upon, and drawn out the full implication of the words of the Virgin Mary as recorded in the Gospel according to St. Luke: “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (LK 1:38).

Through the eyes of faith, we are thus not blinded to a further hidden mystery: "All of creation rejoices in you, O Full of Grace, the assembly of angels and the race of men.”

The Cross as a Moral Compass

Dear Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,

Let us all wash our souls clean in the waters of the Fast, and, approaching the precious and honoured Cross of the Lord, let us venerate it with faith; let us draw from it divine enlightenment,
gathering the fruit of eternal salvation,
peace and great mercy.

(Vespers, Wednesday of the Fourth Week)

As we continue in the Fourth Week of Great Lent – the Week of the Cross - I believe that you will benefit from the interesting presentation of the Cross right below. Actually, Presvytera Deborah discovered this from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese and initially shared it with me. The Cross as “Moral Compass” with its directionality points to the words of St. Paul who wrote of “the breadth and length and height and depth” of the love of Christ, understood by such Church Fathers as Sts. Athanasius and Gregory of Nyssa to refer to the cosmic scope of the Cross.

Fr. Steven

The Cross as a “Moral Compass”

Because this Sunday is the Third Sunday of Great Lent and our focus will turn to the Cross, many classes will participate in the Procession of the Cross, make and decorate crosses to take home, and of course include lessons about the Cross of Christ and why this Sunday places the Cross as its central theme.

One way that I have often presented the Cross to people is to think of it as a compass. It’s a simple metaphor. The arms of the cross point toward the directions we should look as we make decisions for life.

First, a cross points upward, reminding us that we should look toward God for guidance about the decision and consider how the decision we will make might affect our relationship with God.

Second, a cross points side to side, reminding us that we should consider how our neighbors, the people around us may be affected by the decision we are about to make. We might also want to seek the guidance from family and close friends in our deliberation process.

Third, a cross points down, reminding us that the decision will have consequences for our own life, consequences that will affect us. By pointing down, we might also need to consider how the decision we are about to make might affect the world around us, from the environment to people we don’t even know. Admittedly, not every decision we make in life has global impact, but some can. Definitely adults responsible for large groups of people or organizations can have this level of impact, such as a political leader.

Finally, we associate the cross with the pain and suffering of the crucifixion. This can remind us that not all decisions are made easily and can be “painful.”

Many Orthodox Christians wear a cross around their necks. It is more than a decoration, but a reminder of our faith in Christ and our commitment to live as His disciple. That cross can also serve to guide us on a daily level.

Belief in Atheism

Dear Parish Faithful and Friends in Christ,

“The Fool Said in His Heart ‘There is no God’”

Just a reminder that there is a lecture at Xavier University this evening on the subject of Atheism (Kennedy Hall at 7:00 p.m.). I am hoping that this will be a theological analysis of that phenomenon, together with some of the social and moral/ethical consequences of that position; but I am not quite sure what to expect. There are three of us who are going as of now. Please let me know if you are interested.

Atheism (there is no God), like theism (God exists), is a “belief” because it cannot be proved in a definitive manner. Theists will also have to acknowledge that their claim that God exists – experiential as it may be - is a faith-based belief, because proving that God exists beyond any reasonable objection has only proven to be an elusive claim throughout the ages. Yet, an atheist, who is committed to a philosophical materialism (only the material exists), cannot possibly disprove the existence of God (who is Spirit and invisible). In fact, the non-material is simply, by definition, outside of the range of an atheist’s investigations. An atheist claims that what is called spiritual reality does not exist. But does that not resemble a blind man claiming that what he cannot see does not exist? Perhaps it is such blindness that convinces the psalmist that the atheist is a “fool.” If a theist makes a “leap of faith” to claim that God exists based upon either a series of reasonable arguments or a lived experience; so then an atheist makes the same “leap of faith” though arriving at a contrary position. The point is, however, that the atheist has faith that God does not exist. Thus, strange as it may initially sound, atheism is a belief system based upon a faith that cannot be definitively demonstrated.

Another bleak fact of atheism: The atheist will never have the satisfaction of knowing he/she was right! If the atheist is right, he/she will not be able to say: “I told you so!” An atheist faces immediate oblivion at death, so all consciousness and awareness will cease with “brain death.” There will be no way of directly experiencing the non-existence of God. To repeat yet again: Atheism remains an unverifiable belief/faith. The believer, on the other hand, will say when encountering God: “This is infinitely more incredible than I ever conceived it to be!” Human words are utterly inadequate to describe what God has prepared for those who love Him. So, the theist will be able to say: “Ah, I knew it all along!” That experience will be far more than satisfactory. There may be optimistic atheists out there, but we should never lose sight of the utter bleakness of the atheistic worldview. For the atheist we are essentially a talking and walking bag of chemicals fleetingly alive for what amounts to be a “blink of an eye” within a vast cosmic cemetery destined for oblivion.

Keep smiling and have a nice day!

Half-Way There

Dear Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,

Now that we have come, my Christ, to the middle of the time of abstinence, and have reached the veneration of Thy lifegiving Cross, falling down before it we call upon Thee: Mighty art Thou, who lovest mankind, and mighty are Thy works, for Thou hast made manifest Thy precious Cross. In fear we venerate it as we cry: Glory to Thy boundless compassion.

(Matins, Monday of the Fourth Week)

I would like to encourage everyone as we enter the second half of the sacred forty day period of Great Lent. May the Lord continue to bless your efforts as well as provide us all with patience and perseverance, as we now begin to focus on the Cross, on which the Lord of Glory was crucified for our sakes. It was Fr. Alexander Schmemann who insightfully wrote in his book Great Lent, that we concentrate on our ascetical efforts and on overcoming our desires and passions for the first half of Great Lent; but then shift our focus toward the Cross, which is the one reality that brings meaning and purpose to the Lenten journey in the first place. On Golgotha our redemption was worked out “in the midst of the earth,” and the empty tomb revealed the meaning of the victory of crucified love. This balance between the Cross and Resurrection is perfectly expressed in the hymn that accompanies our prostrations before the life-giving Cross of the Lord:

Before Thy Cross, we bow down in worship, O Master,and Thy holy Resurrection, we glorify!