Christ, and the Holy Orders

 A certain elder taught the following:

Now on your account, O son of man, Christ was born, and the Son of God came that He might make you live.

He became a Child, becoming a man, being also God.

He Who was the Lawgiver became a Reader, and He took the book of the synagogue, and He read, saying, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, and for this reason He has anointed Me, and has sent Me to preach the Gospel to the poor."

Like  a Subdeacon He made a whip of rope, and He drove forth from the Temple all those who sold oxen, and cattle, and doves, and other things.

Like a Deacon He girded a napkin about His loins, and washed the feet of His disciples, and He commanded them to wash the feet of their brethren.

Like a Priest He sat among the priests, and taught the people.

Like a Bishop He took bread, and blessed and broke it, and gave to His disciples.

He was beaten for your sake, that is to say, for your sake He was crucified, and for your sake He died.  Yet you for His sake will not even endure insult!

He rose as God.  He was exalted as God.  All these things for our sake, all these things by Divine Providence, all these things properly and due order did He do that He might redeem us.

Let us then be watchful, and strenuous, and constant in prayer, and let us do everything which will please Him, and will gratify His friends, so that we may be redeemed and live.  Was not Joseph sold into Egypt, and did he not live in a foreign land?  And the three simple young men in Babylon, had they not men who opposed them?  Yet, because they were fearing God, He helped them, and made them glorious."

We thank the author of the blog site, https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/

and specifically the page, https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2016/12/christ-came-to-pass-through-all-ranks.html

for their permission to repost this piece.

Archpastoral Nativity Message of His Eminence Metropolitan JOSEPH

“When the fullness of time had come…”  (Gal 4:4-5)

Beloved Fathers, Brothers and Sisters,

This is one of the mighty texts of the Holy Bible. Here is sublime language that links earth with heaven.  The text tells us what God has done. The tremendous fact is declared in five simple words. God sent forth His Son. That is what Nativity means.

That is why throughout the world today companies of men and women meet together to worship God. This is why we keep a holiday which is also a holy day. This is why our mouth is filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing. This is why Nativity is the happiest time in all the year. Because God sent forth His Son.

Nativity began with God, God acted. God took the initiative. God sent forth His Son. All begins with God. We cannot go up to Him. He must come down to us. And so, God revealed Himself. He has come down to earth in Christ His Son. God was in Christ. God sent forth His Son. Our text also tells us, while thus stating in categorical language what God has done, now tells us also when He did it. "When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son." These thrilling words bring to us a new conception of ancient history, for they make it part of the purpose and plan of God. The pre-Christian centuries were a preparation for the advent of God's Son.

God had been preparing the world for His coming. He had been making ready for that one divine event to which the whole creation moved. God sent forth His Son; and He did so at that hour in the world's history when everything was ready for His coming. But how did God do it? Our text tells us: "God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law."

In other words, God chose a moment a method simple yet sublime, the way of our humanity. God sent forth His Son, and there came to earth a little child. God might have chosen other methods, of cause.

He might have sent forth His Son trailing clouds of glory from the opened heavens and with a legion of angels for His bodyguard. But no! A baby is born of a humble girl and love has set forth on its mighty redeeming work. The Word became flesh and, in that act of self-limitation, assumed the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to.

And, lastly, we ask "Why? Why did God thus send forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law? Again, our text supplies the answer: "That we might receive the adoption of sons." God became subject to the laws of our humanity in order that He might deliver us from those laws that He might set us free from the law of sin and death. God became Man so that we might become sons of God.

Think of it! Jesus, the only begotten Son Whom God sent forth, will share us His privileges. This is where language of the brain and of the intellect breaks down. We are in the realm now not of logic but of love. We can no longer reason about these things, for they are matters not for the mind, but for the heart.

We can only lift up our hearts to God in thanksgiving for His unspeakable Gift.

Christ is born! Glorify Him!

With love in the Newborn God-Child, †Metropolitan Joseph

 

Wonderworker

   The website “orthodoxwiki.org” is dedicated to providing information related to the Holy Orthodox faith.

One of the pages on the site is dedicated to the category of saints known as “wonderworkers”.  There are seventy-seven saints so named, some of whom most of us will have knowledge about—our own St. Herman is on the list, as are St. John Maximovitch, St. John Climacus, St. John of Kronstadt, St. John of Rila, St. Mary of Egypt, St. Patrick of Ireland, St. Seraphim of Sarov, and St. Tikhon of Zadonsk.

But we’ll focus on this day with St. Nicholas of Myra who is also among those named.

We have heard of so many of the miraculous deeds associated with this blessed saint.  But inside of each and every year we encounter yet more of his intercessions for those in need.

This year we’ll focus on one from Ukraine.  The account comes from “stnicholascenter.org.”  It doesn’t give a date for this event, but we all know that a date is not relevant.

The story is about a young man who has a strong devotion to St. Nicholas as well as to the first Ukrainian saints, Sts. Boris and Gleb.

At one time he made a pilgrimage with his wife and baby, traveling up the Dneper River to the city of Vyshgorod to celebrate the feast day of Sts. Boris and Gleb at their tomb.

As they were returning to their home by boat, the mother fell asleep, and in this state the baby fell from her arms, and into the river.  The panicked parents looked into the water where they saw a whirlpool, into which their precious child was pulled, and drowned.

Grief stricken, the two prayed: “Holy Wonderworker Saint Nicholas, you are the swift deliverer of all in times of distress.  We call to you now, hear our prayer and save our innocent child from death.”

That evening, St. Nicholas went to the river, lifted up the child, and he bore the child’s dead body to the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv.  There, he placed the baby, now alive and well, in front of his own icon which was located in a place known as “the women’s gallery”.

Early the next morning, the church sacristan (one who is responsible for the sacred items within a church) arrived early and he heard a child crying inside.  He accused the church guard of letting in a woman and child, but the guard defended himself saying that indeed he had not.  As the two went to the building, they found all the doors locked as they should be, assuring that no one had entered during the night.

As they entered, they found a child, still dripping wet and laying before the icon of St. Nicholas.  Not knowing what to think, they went to the Metropolitan, who sent them with the child into the city market to find out whose child this was.

People flocked to see the child, but the father was there, too.  He recognized his child, but was afraid to say anything.  He returned home and told his wife of what had happened at the cathedral.  “Don’t you know?” she asked, “It is a miracle of St. Nicholas!”

The mother ran to the church.  When she saw her child, she fell down before the icon of St. Nicholas, giving thanks for the rescue of her child.

As word of the event spread, the whole city gathered, offering glory to God for His gift of the Wonderworking Saint Nicholas!