The Incarnation: A word about the Word!

 

Dear Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,

“He, the Mighty One, the Artificer of all, Himself prepared this body in the virgin as a temple for Himself, and took it for His very own, as the instrument through which He was known and in which He dwelt.” 

~ Saint Athanasius the Great

Within the Church we have a biblical/theological vocabulary that is very expressive of what we believe as Orthodox Christians. These words are drawn primarily from the Bible, the Ecumenical Councils, and the theological writings of the great Church Fathers, such as Saint Athanasius the Great, quoted above. As responsible, believing and practicing Christians, we need to know this vocabulary at least in its most basic forms. As we continually learn a new technology-driven vocabulary derived from computers to smart phones, so too we need to be alert to the traditional vocabulary of the Church as it has been sanctified over centuries of use. And this vocabulary should be natural to us – not something foreign, exotic and “only for theologians.” It does not take a great deal of effort to be theologically literate, and there is no excuse not to be.

As we prepare to celebrate the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, a key term that must be part of the vocabulary of all Orthodox Christians is Incarnation. The Nativity of Christ is the incarnation of the Son of God as Jesus of Nazareth. Or, we simply speak of "The Incarnation," immediately knowing what that word is referring to.

If we turn to the Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, we find the term defined somewhat blandly, in that kind of clipped, compact and objective style found in most dictionaries:

• in•car•na•tion \in-kär-`nā-shǝn\ n (14c) 1 a (1): the embodiment of a deity or spirit in some earthly form (2) cap: the union of the divinity with humanity in Jesus Christ.

In the Westminster Handbook to Patristic Theology, the Orthodox theologian, Father John McGuckin, begins his definition under a fairly long entry of this term as follows:

• Incarnation Incarnation is the concept of the eternal Word of God (the Logos) “becoming flesh” within history for the salvation of the human race. Incarnation does not simply refer to the act itself (such as the conception of Jesus in the womb of the Virgin, or the event of Christmas); it stands more generally for the whole nexus of events in the life, teachings, sufferings, and glorification of the Lord, considered as the earthly, embodied activity of the Word [p. 180].

Speaking of expanding our theological vocabulary, we need to further know that we translate the key Greek term Logos as Word, referring of course to the Word of God Who was “with God” and Who “was God,” according to Saint John’s Gospel “in the beginning.” We also refer to the Word of God as the “Son,” “Wisdom,” and “Power” of God. It is this Logos/Word of God Who becomes incarnate as Jesus of Nazareth. The key verse that is the classical expression of the Incarnation in the New Testament is found in the Gospel according to Saint John 1:14: “And the Word (Logos) became flesh.” 

This profound paradox of the Word-become-flesh is found in the well-known kontakion of the Nativity, written by St. Romanos the Melode. He begins his wonderful hymn with that paradox captured in the following manner: "Today the Virgin gives birth to the Transcendent One; and the earth offers a cave to the unapproachable One ..."

Incarnation is derived from the Latin word “in the flesh.” The Greek word for Incarnation would be sarkothenta, meaning “made flesh.” So the Incarnation of the Word of God is the “enfleshment”of the Word, and here “flesh” means the totality of our human nature. The Word has assumed our human nature and united it to Himself in an indissoluble union that restores the fellowship of God and humankind. The sacramental life of the Church is based on the Incarnation, and the potential for created reality to become a vehicle for spiritual reality. The ultimate manifestation of this is the Eucharist, and the bread and wine “becoming” the Body and Blood of Christ.

Christmas is the time of the year to recall all of this profound reality and recover a genuine Christian vocabulary that expresses our Faith about as well as what is humanly possible. This further means that theological words are not dry and abstract concepts when approached with not only respect, but with awe and wonder. This makes our reading and studying of our theological Tradition exciting – as well as humbling. The words reveal life-transforming truths that if received with prayer and thanksgiving enhance and expand our minds and hearts, so that we might have the “mind of Christ.”

* I have attached a marvelous Prayer to Jesus Christ Emmanuel that I just received from the Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Ellwood City. I may try to incorporate it into our liturgical celebration, but thought you may want to use it in your personal prayer as we prepare for the advent of the One who is Emmanuel - God With Us.

 

Guest Meditation on the Nativity of Christ

 

Dear Parish Faithful,

Christ is Born!   Glorify Him!

Our "guest meditation" is from the pen of our parishioner, Jenny Harkins. Here is her marvelous poem/meditation on the Nativity of Christ, written many years ago, but subsequently modified to incorporate new insights that Jenny has absorbed upon entering the Orthodox Church this last summer.

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Nativity Meditation

In spirit, I kneel in the dirt and the night,
Trying to contemplate this incredible sight,
The Uncreated One, eternally begotten, with no beginning and no end, Who breathed the breadth of this universe I can’t comprehend;

The Master Craftsman who spoke tenderly each life into being, Resting in your work’s beauty and deeming it pleasing;
It was your mighty heart who invited us to commune
In holy image and intimacy with the Divine Triune;

And your same pure heart that finally broke
In those dark days of sin when you and Noah spoke, And yours was the promise as that bow finally shone, That the reason for hope is in your love and mercy alone.

You, Lord God, led Israel by the hand,
Out of slavery, conquering kingdoms, into the Promised Land;
Covenant love so true, it rang louder than their quarrels,
And humility-centered wisdom that sought the heart beneath their morals.

What Sovereign is this whose own arm will justify 

Hordes of convicted sinners sentenced to die? 

Your holy presence expansive in Heavenly power Waiting in eternity for the perfect hour...

When, making the change by the Holy Spirit, 

  Your ineffable glory

        became enfleshed in our story,

           The angelic hosts trembling to see it!

Through the natural throne of a Virgin’s womb, Her love’s labour, a kairos miracle in bloom, The eternal, incomprehensible, invisible Word

Entered time,

   in a cave,

      with a push,

         And a soft cry was heard...

Your little back, so strong, will carry the weight of ageless sin, 

Your little tongue, Truth’s power, stirring the depths within, Fresh little fingers wrapped tightly around your mother’s,

Will embrace the abandoned and heal brokenness in others, Those little eyes, so bright tonight, will shed bloody tears,

For those of us choosing to dwell in the darkness of our fears.

Royal blood, holy blood, blood of the Living God, Coursing through me, all my worth, kneeling low in awe, To make an offering of peace and a sacrifice of praise For the Divine Mystery revealed to us in these latter days.

You brought us into being, and when we fell, you raised us up again. You did not cease doing everything until with you we could ascend With death’s shackles undone and our spirits’ sanctified,

For from all of eternity, The King would have his Bride.

With the great cloud of witnesses circling round, We carol amazing grace, how sweet the sound,

And worship in wonder with Heavenly hosts singing of his birth, Glory to God in the highest! And Peace among men on earth!

 

'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.

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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