I'm Offended!

Mat 15:21-28

Christ, the Lover of mankind and the Great Physician, reveals Himself yet again in today’s Gospel reading.  And as important – no, as essential as that message is to us, we need to find yet another message in His works from this section of the Gospel of Saint Matthew.

And that message relates to the issue of ‘being offended’.  We hear the expression unceasingly in our society.  We as Christians aren’t allowed to call sin sin because it will offend someone.  We aren’t allowed to pray in schools because it will offend someone.  We are no longer allowed to have community sponsored nativity scenes because it will offend someone.  And while it’s not only Christianity that is at play, it does seem as if this faith plays a central role in the issue of people claiming to be offended.

On the flip side, people often say that our beliefs are founded on superstition and antiquated thoughts, that they have no place in an enlightened world.  And we are not permitted to be offended at their opinions.  Our Lord cautioned us against such behavior when He taught us in the Gospel of St. Luke (9:26), “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels.”  If I claim to be offended, am I not indicating my being ashamed of that which I claim to be the offense?

Going back to the beginning of Matthew Chapter 15, we come to an issue that shows our Lord’s perspective on this topic of ‘offending people.’  Here, we find the scribes and Pharisees encountering Jesus.  They have no problem with attempting to anger our Lord with their accusations, and so they come to Him and openly accuse, indeed attempting to provoke the Lord into confrontation: “Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders?  For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread!”

My goodness.  Such a terrible offense!  It’s a wonder that God didn’t just strike the Apostles dead for such a crime!  Please note that these ‘leaders’ of the Jewish faith do not ask, “Why do Your disciples transgress the law of Moses?”  For there is no such law.  Instead, they focus on a man-made tradition.  Moses is known to have threatened and enjoined his own followers to neither add to nor take away from the Law.  And yet, see what has happened.  Men, in their anxiousness to be seen as having authority, and I dare say to place themselves in the position of God in making rules to set themselves up as judge and jury over others, while at the same time they give to themselves more power, or they abolish rules which convict them of doing wrong.  And it continues to this very day, and it will continue until the Lord’s return.

What is our Lord’s response to them?  He greets the accusers with another accusation.  “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?  For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’  But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother,’ Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God,’ then he need not honor father or mother.  Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.” 

These words need a little explaining.  What Jesus is accusing them of doing is holding onto ‘things’.  Saint John Chrysostom uses the example of a father asking a son to give him a sheep, and the son refuses, telling the father that he has promised the sheep as an offering to God.  The Lord is accusing these men of making up such a tradition.  He is accusing them of hoarding God’s gifts for themselves and breaking the Law in so doing.  Give your father a sheep.  You have others.  Give them, and an extra, to God!

Now comes the offending.  Jesus is not finished with these men.  He says to them, “Hypocrites!  Well did Isaiah prophecy about you, saying, ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.  And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”  Jesus ends by then calling all the surrounding people to Himself, and says, “Hear and understand – not what enters the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”

The twelve Apostles are astounded, and they pull Jesus aside and say, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?”

Again with being offended!  If only, in our time, we had a voice that could speak with such authority and lack of concern about offending others for the sake of speaking the truth!  If only.

Why do we begin with this account?  Because there are many who are coming to Jesus, with many issues, many needs, many righteous and unrighteous desires.  These we’ve just discussed are clearly unrighteous, and those who come with them leave empty – perhaps even more empty than when they came, for their hearts are not filled with love, but are filled with hatred and envy.

On the other side, we find today’s Canaanite woman.  Jesus is traveling in a land away from His home.  Saint Matthew relates in the beginning of today’s Gospel that this woman of Canaan “came from that region” – she had left her home.  Why?  To seek the Master.  She shows none of the quarrelsomeness or arrogance of the Pharisees.  She shows only faith, patience, and a great humility.  Her faith is such that she knows that our Lord can heal her daughter.  She shows no doubt in this belief.  Her patience is such that even after being soundly rebuked by the Lord, multiple times, she persists, knowing that God loves all, and the words He is using are those which would be hurled by the ungodly to offend her and break her faith.  She shows by this great patience that her faith cannot, her faith will not be broken.  And by this, she shows a level of repentance that we should try to emulate.  How is repentance shown?  By virtue of the fact that the woman comes before Christ, recognizing His divine authority and power.  One cannot reach this state, one of seeking to reach out and touch God, without encountering first a truly repentant heart.

Her persistence, her unwavering faith and patience can be noted in the reaction of the Apostles, who at one point ask Jesus to “send her away, for she cries out after us.”  They are taken in at first by His ignoring the woman.  They allow this feigned posture of ignoring a nuisance on the part of our Lord to cause them to also take the posture of openly offending her.

The Lord’s rebuke of the woman is not an act intended to drive her away, for our Lord knows our hearts.  He knows that her faith is great enough to overcome this small offense, though to many it would seem great.  How many would be offended enough to leave in anger at being called ‘a dog’?  When is “being offended” appropriate?  Our Lord is teaching us here that it is not appropriate even at this level!!

But the woman turns the offending term into one of indicating the depth of her faith.  “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”  In short, I don’t care what words are throwing at me.  I know that there is power and authority to spare in Your being.  I know that You have the ability to heal my beloved child, and to heal me as well.  I will endure anything to receive the answer to my plea that I came before You to receive!  I see the children of Israel offending and rebuking You!  This means that some of which You would give to them, You can and will make available to me.  They have case aside more than enough crumbs to meet my needs, if only You will bless me to take them.  You can see, Lord, I believe!  I trust!  I repent!  I have faith!

These words did not come from her lips.  But again, the Lord knows our hearts.  These words were evident in her heart – just as much, and perhaps even more so than the words of hatred and envy in the hearts of the Pharisees who came to the Lord just before her, scattering their crumbs so that she might benefit from her faith to receive her own need

The Canaanite woman comes to Jesus and says what?  “Have mercy on my daughter?”  No!  While her prayer to Jesus is for her daughter to be released from demonic possession, she comes and prays to God the Son, “Have mercy on me!”  I need healing from my sins!  Heal me, and heal also my beloved child.

Jesus grants the prayer of the woman.  He does not ask for faith from the daughter!  Take careful note of this!!!  When the centurion came to seek healing for his servant, Jesus did not ask, “Does your servant believe?”  God answers prayer based on the faith of those who come to Him in faith, regardless of the level of the faith of the one for whom they are interceding.  Immediately after this passage in the Gospel of Saint Matthew, crowds bring to Jesus multitudes of lame, blind, mute and maimed people.  And He heals them all, because of the faith of those who brought them.

We need to find within ourselves the ability to ignore the world’s attempts to dishearten us with offending and discouraging words and practices.  All that matters is our faith, our patience, and our humility, all of these coming from a repentant heart.  Then, the source of all strength, Jesus our Lord, will hear our prayer offered in purity, and will grant to us that which is beneficial for our salvation, and for the salvation of those for whom we are lead to pray.

It’s a simple plan.  It requires simplicity in heart, being “like a child” as we approach our God.  If we start with this foundation, our faith, like that of the Apostles, can still change the world.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Behind the Mask

 As we entered the Holy Altar this past weekend to celebrate Saturday evening Vespers, we were struck with the incongruity of the image here - a mask hanging "at the ready" on the censer stand, near the Holy Altar.

It certainly is a "sing of the times," an expression our Lord used when confronting the hypocritical Pharisees, who asked Him for a sign from heaven.  Our Lord responded, "When it is evening you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red'; and in the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.'  Hypocrites!  You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times." (Mat 16:2-3)

But what are we to garner from THIS "sign of the times"?

There remain in the Holy Canons bans on attendance at theater events.  When studying the canons in seminary, we asked a mentor why such canons were implemented.  The response was that theater had people engaged in two activities that were counter to Christian principle.  First, they were pretending to be someone they are not.  Second, they wore masks to cretate (or enhance) the illusion of being someone they are not.  The explanation held that these canons responded to the errant position of hiding our true selves, for people may be fooled, but God is never fooled ("for You alone know the hearts of all the sons of man", 1Kings 8:39).

Whether the explanation had merit or not, it bears upon our own use of masks today.  Truly we are not "the same people" having donned these appliances.  How are we different?  

St. Paul, as he teaches about love, speaks to the issue of things being hidden with these words:  "For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face.  Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known." (1Cor 13:12)  While masked we can't "see" the person in front of us.  Smiles, frowns, grimaces, all of these are hidden.  We're not showing others what we're sensing.  Our Lord's words in Matthew 6:22-24 lead to the contemporary expression, "The eyes are the window to the soul," but they state the concept differently.  "The lamp of the body is the eye.  If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light."  Our Lord's words speak to light coming IN.  But we don't send OUT a smile through the eyes.  Love is expressed in the fullness of the way God created us to share expressions with one another.  How are we different?  While masked, our ability to show true agape love is compromised.

But additionally, the mask (for some, not all) can be an expression of fear.  "If I don't wear this, I might die."  We have no intention here to change anyone's mind on whether a mask should or should not be worn.  Rather, our purpose is to help all move from living in fear to a return to living, a return to life.

In this country, within Christianity in general, and within the Orthodox Church in particular, we find ourselves in a state of fasting.

That's right - all of us are "fasting."  But we're fasting from the wrong things.  Our fast is not from things which will aid spiritual growth (food, strong drink, gossip, avarice, lust, etc.) but from those things that the Holy Church has given us since its inception to PROMOTE our spiritual growth.  Number of confessions in the past 10 months?  Down significantly.  Communicants at the Chalice at any given Liturgy?  Down significantly.  Attendees at any Divine Service?  About half of what they were a year ago.  And, sad to say, in some Orthodox Churches attendance is limited, requiring people to "sign up" before attending.  Are we really at a point of wanting to "take names" of those desiring to attend Liturgy?  How can we welcome people who wish to learn about the faith under such conditions?  

Our Lord instructed us (Mat 25:35-36) to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked to give drink to the thirsty, to visit the sick and imprisoned, and to take in the stranger.  With our following of "rules" we may continue in several of these activities, but how can we claim to be feeding the hungry when our own faithful, languishing without the Eucharist, are being starved, and 'strangers' who may wish to enter and pray with us are being shut out of our doors?

When will we, as spiritual guides to our faithful, begin to preach to them of their need to return?  When will we throw open our doors to any and all who choose to enter?

The Holy Eucharist cannot bring harm to anyone who approaches in faith.  May our Lord give all of us the wisdom to understand this, and to return to that sincere desire to worship Him in faith and love - in His house, not through a video broadcast.  For those who are not targets to the pandemic (over 70 with mitigating health issues), let us return so that we may pray in the fear of God, not in the fear of a virus.  And if and when you receive your vaccine regardless of age, why would one choose NOT to return?

Feast of Theophany

Sermon - Feast of Theophany

Titus 2:11-14, 3:4-7/Matthew 3:13-17

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

It’s a glorious Feast!

My brothers and sisters in Christ:

Today, we come to celebrate the beginning of our Lord’s earthly ministry.  Prior to this day, those things that were part of His life were relegated to knowledge only to Him and His parents.  Today, all of this changes.  The Sinless One comes to submit Himself to the ritual that is set aside to remit sins.  But our Lord’s purpose in this was more than submitting Himself to baptism.  Rather, His presence in Jordan submits the world to being baptized by Him.  God the Son enters the waters of Jordan, and the Son is not changed, but rather the nature of water is changed.  Water always had been that which gives earthly life.  Today, water is sanctified by the Creator to change it into something that will bring eternal life to those who, in faith, come to be washed spiritually by it, to be "born of water and the Spirit".  (John 3:5)

In a wonderful sermon from Metropolitan Philaret, he takes the opportunity to ask us – all of us – "Do you remember your baptism?"  Certainly many of us would say, “How can I?  I was only weeks old!”  While this is true in the physical sense, the Church asked you questions on that day, and you answered those questions – for all time.  On that day, the Church asked you, “Do you renounce Satan, and all his works, and all his service, and all his pride?”  And you responded, “I do renounce him.”  You breathed and spat upon him, showing your utter contempt for the great deceiver.

If you were baptized as a child, you will say, “But Father, those questions were answered for me by my God-parents.”  But I say in return to you, their answers were not proxies – they were giving voice to your own heart’s desire to unite yourself to Christ.  Later in that same service, you were asked specifically that question.  “Have you united yourself to Christ?”, and you responded, “I have united myself to Christ!”

As we move in today’s service to the Great Blessing of Water, we offer a prayer within that service that says, “Great are You, O Lord, and marvelous are Your works, and there is no word sufficient to hymn Your wonders!”  This same prayer is offered at every baptism over the water into which the Catechumen is to be immersed.

And so, it is right and proper for us, especially on this day, to remember our own baptism, to give thanks to God for that day, to recall the promises that we made to God, even if by way of the lips of those who held us and loved us.  We need to remember the vows that we took on that day, promising to be fully united to Christ, and to be fully disconnected from Satan and his hordes.  Remember that on the Day of Judgment, our vows will not be forgotten by our Lord.  Ergo we dare not forget them ourselves!

Our renunciation of Satan is an ongoing battle while we are in the world.  Face it – the world bombards us on all sides.  Look here.  Taste this.  Hear that.  Judge this.  Feel anger over that.  Be offended.  Be ashamed.  Be proud.  Take charge.  Exercise authority.  Belittle those who get in the way.

In our renunciation of Satan, we are to set aside such behavior in our lives.  We promised our Lord that we would not allow such passions to hold sway in our lives.

On the positive side, we promised Him that we would put Him above all other concerns in our lives.  Putting Him first, we would be charitable, loving, caring, forgiving, diligent, humble, prayerful, quiet, at peace, filled with the overwhelming desire to praise and worship Him at every opportunity.

Where in the world are we – individually and collectively, as a people – in this analysis?  If we stand for judgment before Him tomorrow, what excuses will we offer for the choices we’ve made?

Yes, we come today to pray over water.  Yes, we believe with all our hearts that our prayers will result in our Lord’s sending a blessing upon this water such that it will be effective in healing our physical and spiritual infirmities, and in providing a defense against the attacks of Satan, on our bodies, and in our homes. 

But as we pray over this water on this day, let us also pray that our Lord strengthen us for this internal battle, that He gives us the strength to wage war with the powers that attempt to drag us into places where our vows from our baptism are forgotten, where we do not place emphasis on serving our Lord, but instead focus on serving self, which is the same as serving the enemy!

Saint Paul writes today to Titus, “For the grace of God has appeared for the salvation of all men, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live sober, upright, and godly lives in this world.”  But he continues immediately and without a break to join this to the view of our Lord’s return as he writes, “awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” 

The world knows our Lord, but rejects Him.  Saint John the Forerunner says, “There stands among you One whom you do not know.” (Jn 1:26)  Are we able to look at the world around us and conclude that even "in general" the average person "knows" Christ?  And if truth be told, we can extend that question to those who sometimes enter the Churches!  Indeed, I must ask myself, "Do I know Christ?"

We should ask how they, but especially we who call ourselves by His name, not know Him, when even inanimate creation knows Him.  In some icons of the Feast, there are small creatures riding fish.  These represent the Jordan and the sea, both of which ‘flee’ our Lord's baptism by the Forerunner.  Tradition tells us that the waters of the Jordan reversed their flow seeing our Lord entering them to be baptized.  Read the Psalms!  76:15 says, “The waters saw You, O God, the waters saw You and were afraid; the abysses were troubled.”  113:3 says, “The sea beheld and fled, Jordan turned back.”

God’s created things took no vows.  They were made by Him to be perfect, as were we.  Creation was relegated to be part of our fallenness when we failed in Paradise.  Our vows are promises to God, showing Him our eagerness to return to that place near to Him.  Creation recognizes Him, and His authority.  In the presence of their Creator, they tremble.  But for our part, when we fail to follow through on our own promises, we neither tremble nor fear, and all too often we do not even repent.

Our baptism was a gift from our Lord so that we might show true repentance.  There is one baptism for the remission of sins.  But there are many re-baptisms, through our own tears, that avail much to returning us to communion, fellowship with God.  Saint John Chrysostom teaches, "What rain is for seeds, tears are for those who are afflicted." 

Are we ready to return to those vows we made so long ago?  Do they still mean to us what they meant on that day?  If we can answer “Yes!” to these questions, then we have set ourselves on the path to salvation. 

It’s a glorious Feast!

Resolutions

 03Jan21 - Sunday/Before Theophany

2Tim 4:5-8/Mark 1:1-8

 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

 It's a Glorious Feast!

 My brothers and sisters in Christ:

 We find ourselves “in that time of year” again, a time when people see the calendar and leap to the conclusion that when the digits in the year number change, somehow that occurrence is related to a “new beginning.”  And so, it fosters what we’ve all come to know as “New Year’s Resolutions.”

 I was listening to a radio program this past week, and a guy was being interviewed about a book or an article he’d written on the topic of resolutions.  His argument went something like this:

 1) A resolution is good, but it carries no weight, and virtually all resolutions are therefore shortly forgotten, which promotes the idea that attempting to make a change is pointless.

 2) When a resolution is enhanced by making a plan, it is improved.  If the resolution is to lose weight (and oh how very many are!), even setting a goal of “x” pounds means less than saying, “I’m buying a gym membership, and I plan to go at least twice each week.”  As noted, this is better than 1) above, but still carries little “meat” that will prevent overbooked schedules (or laziness) from causing one to miss the goal.  And once missed, it again promotes the idea of pointlessness.

 3) When a resolution becomes a commitment to make a change on a personal level, then there is something to grasp and to live up to.  Instead of resolving to lose weight, if you say, “I’m the kind of person who looks out for my health on a daily basis.”  Now, you’ve made a change.  Now, with this as a personal description and commitment, you choose a salad for lunch, you pack your gym clothes and put them on the front seat so that you can stop at the gym on the way home.  You start a log of what you ate and how it affected your weight – and your sense of health.  This third way of looking at things is the way of change. 

 So let’s take this discussion to our spiritual lives, because they need “a change” as well – not by “resolving” not to commit a particular sin any longer, but by committing ourselves to a description of ourselves that effects a change.  Suppose we’ve come to confession a number of times and confess, “I have ignored doing things for others who are in need.”  It confesses the sin.  It acknowledges the failure.  Now, if we take that confession to the place where, when we leave, we say to ourselves, “I have become the kind of person who will care for the needs of another every day.”  Inside of that statement is a commitment to change from a sinful pattern of ignoring the needs of others to choosing a path that will at least acknowledge those needs and proactively seek to do something about it.

 And it is the way we must approach change in our lives with respect to our salvation.  St. Matthew records this about our Lord beginning His public ministry, “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, ‘Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”  In this verse, the word used for “repent” is the Greek word μετανοέω.  It means to think differently, to reconsider, to feel moral compunction.  It means that in considering how I have fallen short of God’s expectations of me, I understand my need to change.

 Change as a word occurs elsewhere in Scripture.  With today being the feast day of the Prophet Malachi, it’s appropriate that we pull some material from him.  The Aposticha in Tone 3 from Vespers says, “You are the changeless God, Who suffering in the flesh was changed.” In Malachi 3:6 we find these words: “For I am the LORD, I change not.”  The Hebrew word for change here is שָׁנָה, pronounced " shaw-nah’ ".  It carries the meaning to alter or transmute, to become something it was not before.  It is different from repent, which we just tied to the idea of change.  Here in Malachi, the Prophet is pointing to the fact that God, being timeless, is not subject to change.  This is the reason that we understand THIS as our time for repentance, for after we fall asleep in the Lord, we too become “unchanging”, outside of time.  Change is a function of time!  So indeed, THIS is the time for our change!

 We just stated that repentance, true repentance, will effect a change in us.  Repentance brings change.  But change does not necessarily bring repentance.  Quite the opposite, in fact.  I can be impacted by something another person does that I judge to be evil, and I can change my attitude toward that person.  My behavior matches evil for evil.  If I behave in such a fashion I’ve changed, but certainly not repented!

 Where is this discourse leading?  Having survived 2020, we find ourselves worried about 2021.  Will the mutant strains of COVID become another new full blown pandemic?  Will the vaccines work?  Will we be able to “unmask” finally?  Will our children be able to return to some ‘normal’ life in school.  Will we be able to interact socially again?  The year now past was a year of unexpected and undesirable change.  Can we have hope that the coming year’s change will not be so traumatic?  

 As we enter this new year, those are the thoughts in the minds of most Americans.  I find myself focused on other pressing matters.  We missed Pascha in 2020.  Will we have a Pascha in 2021?  Will we be able to restore our community life to the family that is our parish?  Will I find it in my heart to make repentance my number one priority in my changed life?

We WANT change, but we want that change to conform to OUR thoughts, hopes and plans, without considering God's plan in sending change our way.

 When I start to ask such questions of myself, I go to the Fathers for help.  We’ve spoken in the past of a little book from St. Theophan the Recluse titled "The Spiritual Life".  It’s filled with gems which have a connection to our discussions this morning.  I believe St. Theophan was speaking to just such an issue of repentant change when he addressed these words to his spiritual child:

 Live without making empty plans, but doing the works that fall on you with respect (to others) and to all people.  Do not think at all that this life is empty.  Everything that you do here, no matter what it is, will be a work, and if you do it with the consciousness that such a work is according to the commandments and that God wants such a thing, then the work will be pleasing to God.

 Specifically as change relates to repentance, St. Theophan says this:

 God gave us this life so that we would have time to prepare for the next one.  This one is short, but the next one has no end.  Although this life is short, during its course one may lay in provisions for all of eternity.  Each good work goes toward this end like a small contribution; from all such contributions comes the overall capital, the interest of which will determine the upkeep of the saver for all eternity.  He who makes larger contributions will have a richer upkeep, while he who makes smaller contributions will have a lesser upkeep.  The Lord will render to each one according to his works.

 As we find ourselves changing as a result of our repentance, St. Theophan instructs us that ‘monitoring’ our progress is very easy indeed, and that our efforts do not need to be monumental – they simply need to be efforts consistent with the opportunities that the Lord gives to us.  He says,

 We already believe, what else is needed?  Carry out the commandments, for faith without works is dead.  Also give thanks to the Lord: that it suited Him to determine the value of our works, not by their magnitude or greatness, but by our inward disposition when carrying them out, having at the same time given us a multiplicity of opportunities for doing good works according to His will, so that, if we pay attention to ourselves, we may at every moment perform God-pleasing works.

 Do we hear the wisdom the Saint is presenting to us?  AT EVERY MOMENT God gifts us with ways to do that which pleases Him – MULTIPLE WAYS!  If we chose HIS ways as opposed to our own, and if our hearts are filled with joy in doing His will – we are found to be favorable in His sight!!!

 We’ll close with these words from St. Theophan.

 Just look around yourself each day and each hour; on whatever you see the seal of the commandment, carry it our immediately, in the belief that God Himself this very hour requires this work of you, and nothing else.

 When our Lord exits Jordan this week, and He goes to begin His three-year ministry, when He gifts us the words, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,” He is giving us the gift of seeking change through repentance.  When we see how very easy living UP to the change can be, how can we not marvel at the goodness and love that our Lord shows us on a daily basis.  He has laid at our doorstep, at our very feet that which we require to serve Him in a way that is pleasing to Him such that our salvation can be secured.

 Following Him from Bethlehem, to Jordan, to Tabor, to Bethany, to Jerusalem, to Golgotha, to the Mount of Olives – His path is the focus of our efforts, for following where He has led is the key to finding ourselves always near to Him.  That path is to be found here, in this place, His house. 

 May our Lord bless us to once again find our way through following His steps, hearing His words, doing His will – without fear or concern for anything else we might find around us in things we can NOT change.  COVID or not, the world will be a better place if we change ourselves to be more Christ-like!  Let us ask His blessing to help us change what we CAN change (ourselves, our hearts, our failings) before it’s too late.

2020 - Sunday After Nativity

[Mat 2:13-23]

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Christ is Born!  Glorify Him!!

Together, we’ve spent so many weeks, since the Sunday of Pentecost, learning from the Gospels how very persistently the scribes and Pharisees attempted at every turn to entrap the Lord, to get Him to make a verbal or functional error, so that they might be able to accuse Him, to give them leverage to destroy Him.  In today’s Gospel, we come to learn that this didn’t begin with our Lord’s beginning His ministry at the age of 30.  It began with His birth.

We spoke on Friday morning about how many miracles we are witnesses to in the Lord’s Incarnation.  There are the miracles associated with the Theotokos, of her conception, of her holding the Creator of all within her body, of her painless birth giving, and of her remaining a virgin after giving birth.  There are the miracles associated with the Star, how it came to be by the Will of God, how it traveled in the night skies to indicate a particular place where the Word of God in the flesh could be found by those who knew how to seek Him.  There are the miracles of the Magi themselves, to whom God revealed such wisdom, and into whose hearts God placed a deep love such that these men were compelled to travel to seek not only Truth, but to seek their Creator in the Flesh.  There is the human incongruity of aged men, these Magi, offering worship to a child!  There is the miracle that is the Angelic Choir singing His arrival such that the shepherds, the most simple of people in the world, heard their proclamation, and having His birth revealed to them, came to find Him as the Angels had said.

There are more miracles.  Tradition holds that a midwife came after the child was born, and Joseph told her that the Child was the result of a virgin birth.  She disbelieved, and her hand withered.  Remaining to aid in the process, as she bathed the Child, her hand was restored.  And what of the angelic visitations to Joseph, to tell him not to send Mary away as an adulteress, but to take her into his house, for her child was of the Holy Spirit.  And in today’s Gospel he was visited again warning him to take them and flee to Egypt, and yet once more to instruct him to take them back to Israel, and also one final time to take them to Nazareth.

How many miracles!  It is virtually impossible to find “the normal” in amongst God overcoming nature and imposing His will – for the sake of the salvation of simple people, you and me.

We speak of these accounts, and we as Christians accept them without question.  They are part of the “fabric” of who we are as a people.  They are the account of our “family tree”, the description that is the “history” of how we’ve come to be God’s people.  And as such, we accept them totally.  The world?  The world tells us these are fairy tales, things that make no human sense, and therefore have no place in anyone’s rational beliefs.

The difference between the two perspectives is that WE believe in a God Who can and Who does as He wills.  It matters not at all if the things that He chooses to do follow some semblance of a human pattern that our minds can understand or accept as logical.  Want an example?  Human reason has a long-standing saying:  A thing cannot be in two places at the same time.  But God is beyond time, outside of time.  Indeed, He can and does occupy all places at all times.

And so it comes down to a simple question of faith.  “In what do you have faith?”

It seems to be a simple question at first glance.  But to what is it directed?  For instance, I have faith in my doctor (or, at least I should look for a doctor in whom I can have faith).  I have faith in my car, that it will start in the morning, and get me back and forth to and from work and church.  I have faith in my wife that, regardless of conditions, she will do that which her love for me tells her is in my (and sometimes not her) best interest.

Now, these are three examples.  The first is an example of faith in a person’s education, integrity and ability.  The second is an example of faith in a physical thing.  The last is an example of faith in something that transcends the personal.  It includes the divinely blessed union of people for the purpose of their helping one another to gain access to the kingdom of heaven.  It is a belief in the spiritual connection of two physical beings.

You can ask, “Why this question today, father?”  Why?  Because the world would attempt to convince you that there are many shades of grey, there is no black, there is no white.  In short, there is no singular truth nor singular good.  The spectrum between good and evil is broad, the world would have us believe.

But it is not so with God.  There is a judgment coming, and that judgment will carry a verdict, an eternal sentence to joy or torment, to heaven or hell.  And if the ending of the judgment is black and white, we must know that the life lived to the point of being judged is a life lived as black or white.

Our Lord’s incarnation brings God to His creation, to earth.  He agrees to take on the form, the body that our sinfulness has corrupted.  It is not the eternal body once given to Adam and Eve.  Their bodies became corrupt when sin entered the world.  And we are inheritors of their flesh, which is now the same flesh God chooses to be clothed in Himself.  He takes our flesh so that He can restore us to the incorruptible realm.  How?

He gives us commandments to follow where He has led.  We must be born again of water and the Spirit.  We must eat His flesh and drink His blood.  We must love our neighbors.  We must love our enemies. 

We live in these ways by the faith we are focused upon.  If our faith is in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, we are on the path.  If our faith is fervent, we attempt to live the life He created us to live.  We recognize the talents He has given us, and we use them to His increase, talents employed as blessings to ourselves but also to others, whom He has called “the least of His brethren.”  If our faith is fervent, we live not from meal to meal, but from chalice to chalice, desiring noting more than to be in that living communion with Him which He left us as the means of always being in His presence.

The Body laying in a manger today is the Body that will be suspended on the Cross in a few short months.  It is the Body that He will by His grace and love for us place into the Chalice behind me that He gives us as “real food” (John 6:55)

The faith that accepts God becoming Incarnate for our salvation is the SAME faith as that which believes in His death on the Cross and His Resurrection on the third day.  It’s the same faith that holds to His Ascension, to His being equally one of the Holy Trinity.  It is the same faith that was gifted to us by pious fathers and mothers.  It is the same faith that we are charged by our Lord to pass on – unmodified by the “wisdom” of our times – to our children until His time of return arrives.

And it all begins with not just belief in, but embracing the truth of God working miraculously in the world.  He did so at the time of creation.  He did so in the time of the Israelites.  He did so at his Incarnation through to His Ascension.  He did so through the times of the Apostles and through the ages of the Church.  He does so even today.

But today, we embrace His miraculous Incarnation, a love for mankind so great that He deigns to leave Heaven, and to come here, among His fallen creation, to reclaim it – in His love for mankind.

Christ is Born!  Glorify Him!

Advent 2020 - Day 39

 Thirty-ninth Day of the Advent Fast:

"When did men begin to desert the worshipping of idols, save since God, the true Word of God, has come among men? Or when have the oracles among the Greeks, and everywhere, ceased and become empty, save when the Savior has manifested Himself upon earth? Or when did those who are called gods and heroes in the poets begin to be convicted of being merely mortal men, save since the Lord erected His conquest of death, and preserved incorruptible the body he had taken, raising it from the dead? Or when did the deceitfulness and madness of demons fall into contempt, save when the power of God, the Word, the Master of all these as well, condescending because of man's weakness, appeared on earth?" ("On the Incarnation," St. Athanasius, Section 46:1-3)

Advent 2020 - Day 38

 Thirty-eighth Day of the Advent Fast:

"Now, if they ask, Why then did He not appear by means of other and nobler parts of creation, and use some nobler instrument, as the sun, or moon, or stars, or fire, or air, instead of man merely? Let them know that the Lord came not to make a display, but to heal and teach those who were suffering. For the way for one aiming at display would be, just to appear, and to dazzle the beholders; but for one seeking to heal and teach the way is, not simply to sojourn here, but to give himself to the aid of those in want, and to appear as they who need him can bear it; that he may not, by exceeding the requirements of the sufferers, trouble the very persons that need him, rendering God's appearance useless to them." ("On the Incarnation," St. Athanasius, The Manner of His Coming, Section 43:1-2)

Advent 2020 - Day 37

 Thirty-seventh Day of the Advent Fast:

"For you shall see, it says, your Life hanging before your eyes; and who shall declare his generation? For one can ascertain the genealogy of all the saints, and declare it from the beginning, and of whom each was born; but the generation of Him that is the Life the Scriptures refer to as not to be declared. Who then is he of whom the Divine Scriptures say this? Or who is so great that even the prophets predict of him such great things? None else, now, is found in the Scriptures but the common Savior of all, the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. For He it is that proceeded from a virgin and appeared as man on the earth, and whose generation after the flesh cannot be declared. For there is none that can tell His father after the flesh, His body not being of a man, but of a virgin alone; so that no one can declare the corporal generation of the Savior from a man, in the same way as one can draw up a genealogy of David and of Moses and of all the patriarchs." ("On the Incarnation," St. Athanasius, The Majesty of His Birth and Death, Section 37:2-4)

Advent 2020 - Day 34

 Thirty-fourth Day of the Advent Fast:

"But if any of our own people also inquire, not from love of debate, but from love of learning, why He suffered death in none other way save on the Cross, let him also be told that no other way than this was good for us, and that it was well that the Lord suffered this for our sakes. For if He came Himself to bear the curse laid upon us, how else could He have become a curse, unless He received the death set for a curse? And that is the Cross. For this is exactly what is written: Cursed is he that hangs on a tree. Again, if the Lord's death is the ransom of all, and by His death the middle wall of partition is broken down, and the calling of the nations is brought about, how would He have called us to Him, had He not been crucified? For it is only on the cross that a man dies with his hands spread out. Whence it was fitting for the Lord to bear this also and to spread out His hands, that with the one He might draw the ancient people, and with the other those from the Gentiles, and unite both in Himself. For this is what He Himself has said, signifying by what manner of death He was to ransom all: I, when I am lifted up, He says, shall draw all men unto Me." ("On the Incarnation," St. Athanasius, Why The Cross?, Section 25:1-4)

Advent 2020 - Day 33

 Thirty-third Day of the Advent Fast:

"So something surprising and startling has happened; for the death, which they thought to inflict as a disgrace, was actually a monument of victory against death itself. Whence neither did He suffer the death of John, his head being severed, nor, as Esaias, was He sawn in sunder; in order that even in death He might still keep His body undivided and in perfect soundness, and no pretext be afforded to those that would divide the Church." ("On the Incarnation," St. Athanasius, Further Objections, Section 24:4)

Advent 2020 - Day 32

 Thirty-second Day of the Advent Fast:

"For if, even as it was, when His death and Resurrection had taken place in the sight of all, the Pharisees of that day would not believe, but compelled even those who had seen the Resurrection to deny it, why, surely, if these things had happened in secret, how many pretexts for disbelief would they have devised? Or how could the end of death, and the victory over it be proved, unless challenging it before the eyes of all He had shown it to be dead, annulled for the future by the incorruption of His body?" ("On the Incarnation," St. Athanasius, Necessity of a Public Death, Section 23:3-4)

Advent 2020 - Day 31

Thirty-first Day of the Advent Fast:

"For like the seeds which are cast into the earth, we do not perish by dissolution, but sown in the earth, shall rise again, death having been brought to naught by the grace of the Savior. Hence it is that blessed Paul, who was made a surety of the Resurrection to all, says: This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality; but when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death where is your sting? O grave where is your victory?" (St. Athanasius, "On the Incarnation," 21, Death Brought to Naught by Christ, 2) 

On the Feast of Our Patron Saint Herman, 13Dec2020

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

My brothers and sisters in Christ:

It is a glorious Feast!  And it is always so when we remember our beloved Patron, who in this instance has intervened on our behalf to permit fair weather for his Feast Day!

Many of us will remember, some of us vividly, the process that we have gone through for what will in one more month be sixteen years of laboring together to establish a place for Orthodox worship in this area.  We’ve researched, recommended, planned, visited, built, and maintained within at least four locations in that time frame.  And through the prayers of St. Herman, we’ve been blessed to worship in a place as wonderful as this – a piece of heaven on earth, God’s house in Hudson.

Not so many of us will remember the process we underwent sixteen years ago when His Eminence gave us instructions to recommend to him possible selections for a Patron for our new community, while we were still under the Patronage of St. Thomas the Twin.  There’s still a notebook on my bookshelf at home that contains the myriad of pages of lives of saints that the group present in 2004 read, studied, and met about, ultimately selecting three as instructed by His Eminence whom we recommended to him – St. Herman, St. Catherine the Great Martyr, and St. John the Theologian.  It is the reason that to this very day, we honor all three of these saints in our closing benedictions from the ambo, for they were all selected as intercessors before the Lord on our behalf.

Having sent our list of three saints to Metropolitan Joseph, I think all of us who were members of the community at that time had a particular soft spot in our hearts, hoping that His Eminence would tell us that his selection was Saint Herman.  It seemed from the very beginning that he was our favorite choice, and his inclusion in our petition list was unanimous.  As it turns out, His Eminence tells us after the fact that he too had a hope that St. Herman would be the choice.  His process?  He put the names into a hat!  St. Herman was selected, and we ALL “won” that lottery!

As we read from the Old Testament readings prescribed for tonight, one can’t help but imaging King Solomon visualizing Saint Herman as he wrote.  “The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God.” “In the time of their visitation they will shine forth.”  “The righteous live forever, and their reward is with the Lord.”  

But the one which most catches my eye is, “For honorable age is not that which stands in length of time, nor that is measured by number of years.  But wisdom is the gray hair unto men.”

Attaining an ‘honorable age’ is a goal that each of us seeks.  Perhaps we might at first misunderstand that goal.  But the attaining of an ‘honorable age’ is not the accumulation of years, just as the verse states.  There are many who have attained great numbers of years, and yet remain without honor.  Similarly, there are those who are comparatively young, and those who serve our country in its armed services come to mind here, who are honorable beyond their years.

We seek honor through wisdom.  Proverbs Chapter 2 states this beautifully.  “My son, if you receive my words, and treasure my commands within you, so that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding; Yes, if you cry out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, And find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding; He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly; He guards the paths of justice, and preserves the way of His saints. Then you will understand righteousness and justice, Equity and every good path.”

Saint Herman is this to us.  He is the model of the wisdom of God for us.  He is the light that shines in the darkness of our world, showing us the way toward our Lord, if only we seek him as our intercessor.

Saint Herman lived a life that was in accordance with the Lord’s will and the Lord’s commandments.  Archbishop Leo of Finland wrote this concerning Saint Herman: (He) manifested (Christ) in his words and deeds: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control… And isn’t it true that in his saintly way of life he crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts. He lived in the Spirit and also walked in the Spirit. He was poor and therefore his is the kingdom of God. He hungered and was filled. He wept, and he shall laugh. Truly, his reward is great in Heaven. In the middle of the feast of St. Herman we have an opportunity to contemplate how we could become like him and finally like Christ.

On this day of remembering our Patron, let’s focus on his unending devotion to serving the needs of others.  As you saw in today’s bulletin, St. Herman’s life after leaving Russia to make a new home on this continent was not exactly filled with the greatest human joys.  But the one event we’ll call to attention here is his dealing with the epidemic that struck his spiritual children in 1819 – 200 years ago.  Let’s ponder that event as we ask St. Herman’s intercession for our needs through the current pandemic that plagues our own homeland.

In 1819, a vessel coming from the US mainland brought with it a contagious disease.  Theories suggest that it was most likely a form of the flu, but that whatever its form, it most often proved fatal to those who contracted it.  The ship docked in Sitka, which at the time was called Novoarchangelski, “New Archangel” in English.  From Sitka, the disease spread to Kodiak Island, about 650 miles away across the Gulf of Alaska.  We can only imagine “how” the disease spread.  Suffice it to say, it did.

For those who contracted the disease, it began with a fever, a heavy cold, and difficulty in breathing.  Sound familiar?  Ultimately, it ended with the person going into convulsions, and death occurred typically within 3 days.

On Kodiak Island, there was no doctor.  There was no medicine.  When one person contracted the disease, it spread through the whole village, and from there to neighboring areas.  Unlike Covid, it affected everyone the same way, from infant to elderly.  Many of the Aleut families were totally wiped out – entire families dead from the disease.  Bodies of the dead remained in houses for many days because there were no able bodies available to bury as many as were perishing.  The following is a testimony from one who was an eyewitness to the events:

I cannot imagine anything more tragic and horrible than the sight which struck me when I visited an Aleutian ‘Kazhim’ or village.  This was a large building, or barracks, with dividing sections, in which the Aleuts lived with their families; it contained about 100 people.  Here, some had died.  Their cold bodies lay near the living; others were dying; there were groans and weeping which tore at one’s soul.  I saw mothers over whose bodies cold in death crawled a hungry child, crying and searching in vain for its food. [...] My heart was bursting with compassion! It seemed that if anyone could paint with a worthy brush the full horror of this tragic scene, he would have successfully aroused fear of death in the most embittered heart. 

And who was there to provide help and consolation under such circumstances?  There was Father Herman.  His spiritual son, Simeon Yanovsky, wrote this about what he witnessed in this time:

Here, some have already died and become cold.  They lay beside the living.  We and they saw others dying before our eyes.  Their moans and cries were tearing the soul!  Only the monk Herman tirelessly visited the sick, persuaded them to endure, to pray, to offer their repentance. Thus, he prepared the dying for death.  The surviving Kodiak Aleuts became even more fond of their Father Herman, who, risking himself, proved his love during the disaster that befell them.  

Unlike the times we are in now, this particular epidemic took so very many that it “burned itself out” within a month, gradually disappearing at the end.  Throughout that time, Saint Herman’s efforts never waned.  He visited the sick.  He admonished them in their fear.  He prayed with them.  He brought them to repentance.  He prepared them for death.  He never had concern for his own health or well-being.  It is said that St. Herman was the only Russian to visit the natives, the only one to care for them, the only source of consolation as they were dying.

All of this St. Herman did without concern for the perceived great personal risk he was placing himself into.  As in all things in his life, he trusted in the Lord, Who blessed his efforts and sustained him as he brought peace and salvation to the many.

We have a calling here in Hudson that is not so very different from the one that our beloved Patron fulfilled so valiantly and faithfully in Alaska.  We, like Saint Herman, are surrounded by a people who are thirsting to find the Lord.  We, like Saint Herman, have been placed here by God to serve His divine will and His divine plan.  In our own time, there are so very many who are living in fear of death at the prospect of contracting a disease that has been marketed to our society as the contemporary plague.  Yes, it is true that in our country we’re approaching 300,000 dead from the disease.  But it has not wiped out entire villages or cities.  It is not responsible for decimating entire families.  It is not fatal to people over the full spectrum of ages.  By comparison, Covid is nothing in comparison to the epidemic of Kodiak 200 years ago.

Note carefully how our beloved Patron did not allow all of the horrors of the disease to prevent him from doing what our Lord had placed him there to do – to serve the Lord’s people.  To do this requires only a few things: 1) faith in God’s providence to care for those who love Him; 2) faith sufficient to carry us into places too difficult for many to tolerate, but going there with the recognition that His will is to be done; 3) love of God sufficient to seek His will before my own.

And so, from this day forth, from this hour, from this minute, let us love God above all and fulfill His holy will.

Saint Herman, pray to God for us!

Advent 2020 - Day 30

 Thirtieth Day of the Advent Fast:

"The body, then, as sharing the same nature with all, for it was a human body, though by an unparalleled miracle it was formed of a virgin only, yet being mortal, was to die also, conformably to its peers. But by virtue of the union of the Word with it, it was no longer subject to corruption according to its own nature, but by reason of the Word that had come to dwell in it it was placed out of the reach of corruption. And so it was that two marvels came to pass at once, that the death of all was accomplished in the Lord's body, and that death and corruption were wholly done away by reason of the Word that was united with it. For there was need of death, and death must needs be suffered on behalf of all, that the debt owing from all might be paid. Whence, as I said before, the Word, since it was not possible for Him to die, as He was immortal, took to Himself a body such as could die, that He might offer it as His own in the stead of all, and as suffering, through His union with it, on behalf of all, Bring to naught Him that had the power of death, that is the devil; and might deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." (St. Athanasius, "On the Incarnation," 20, No Other Could Bestow Incorruption, 4-6)

Advent 2020 - Day 27

 Twenty-seventh Day of the Advent Fast:

"Who, seeing the substance of water changed and transformed into wine, fails to perceive that He Who did this is Lord and Creator of the substance of all waters? For to this end He went upon the sea also as its Master, and walked as on dry land, to afford evidence to them that saw it of His lordship over all things. And in feeding so vast a multitude on little, and of His own self yielding abundance where none was, so that from five loaves five thousand had enough, and left so much again over, did He show Himself to be any other than the very Lord Whose Providence is over all things?" (St. Athanasius, "On the Incarnation", 18, How the Word Works in Human Actions, 6)

Advent 2020 - Day 26

 Twenty-sixth Day of the Advent Fast:

"Thus, even while present in a human body and Himself quickening it, He was, without inconsistency, quickening the universe as well, and was in every process of nature, and was outside the whole, and while known from the body by His works, He was none the less manifest from the working of the universe as well." (St. Athanasius, 17, Incarnation Did Not Limit HIm, 2)

Advent - Day 25

 Twenty-fifth Day of the Advent Fast:

"For men's mind having finally fallen to things of sense, the Word disguised Himself by appearing in a body, that He might, as Man, transfer men to Himself, and center their senses on Himself, and, men seeing Him thenceforth as Man, persuade them by the works He did that He is not Man only, but also God, and the Word and Wisdom of the true God." (St. Athanasius, 16, To Know HIm as God, 1)

Advent 2020 - Day 24

 Twenty-fourth Day of the Advent Fast:

"For as a kind teacher who cares for His disciples, if some of them cannot profit by higher subjects, comes down to their level, and teaches them at any rate by simpler courses; so also did the Word of God. As Paul also says: For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God, it was God's good pleasure through the foolishness of the word preached to save them that believe. For seeing that men, having rejected the contemplation of God, and with their eyes downward, as though sunk in the deep, were seeking about for God in nature and in the world of sense, feigning gods for themselves of mortal men and demons; to this end the loving and general Savior of all, the Word of God, takes to Himself a body, and as Man walks among men and meets the senses of all men half-way , to the end, I say, that they who think that God is corporeal may from what the Lord effects by His body perceive the truth, and through Him recognize the Father." (St. Athanasius, 15, The Word Condescended Taking a Body, 1-2)

Advent 2020 - Day 23

 Twenty-third Day of the Advent Fast:

"For as, when the likeness painted on a panel has been effaced by stains from without, he whose likeness it is must needs come once more to enable the portrait to be renewed on the same wood: for, for the sake of his picture, even the mere wood on which it is painted is not thrown away, but the outline is renewed upon it; in the same way also the most holy Son of the Father, being the Image of the Father, came to our region to renew man once made in His likeness, and find him, as one lost, by the remission of sins; as He says Himself in the Gospels: I came to find and to save the lost. Whence He said to the Jews also: Except a man be born again, not meaning, as they thought, birth from woman, but speaking of the soul born and created anew in the likeness of God's image." (St. Athanasius, 14, A Portrait Effaced Must Be Restored From the Original, 1-2)

Advent 2020 - Day 20

 Twentieth Day of the Advent Fast:

"What then was God to do? Or what was to be done save the renewing of that which was in God's image, so that by it men might once more be able to know Him? But how could this have come to pass save by the presence of the very Image of God, our Lord Jesus Christ? For by men's means it was impossible, since they are but made after an image; nor by angels either, for not even they are (God's) images. Whence the Word of God came in His own person, that, as He was the Image of the Father, He might be able to create afresh the man after the image." (St. Athanasius, 13, Was God to Keep Silence?, 7)

Advent 2020 - Day 19

 Nineteenth Day of the Advent Fast:

"For whereas the grace of the Divine Image was in itself sufficient to make known God the Word, and through Him the Father; still God, knowing the weakness of men, made provision even for their carelessness: so that if they cared not to know God of themselves, they might be enabled through the works of creation to avoid ignorance of the Maker. But since men's carelessness, little by little, descends to lower things, God made provision, once more, even for this weakness of theirs, by sending a law, and prophets, men such as they knew, so that even if they were not ready to look up to heaven and know their Creator, they might have their instruction from those near at hand. For men are able to learn from men more directly about higher things. So it was open to them, by looking into the height of heaven, and perceiving the harmony of creation, to know its Ruler, the Word of the Father, Who, by His own providence over all things makes known the Father to all, and to this end moves all things, that through Him all may know God." (St. Athanasius, 12, Man Was Created in Grace, 1-3)

Advent 2020 - Day 18

 Eighteenth Day of the Advent Fast:

"For what profit to the creatures if they knew not their Maker? Or how could they be rational without knowing the Word (and Reason) of theFather, in Whom they received their very being? For there would be nothing to distinguish them even from brute creatures if they had knowledge of nothing but earthly things. Nay, why did God make them at all, as He did not wish to be known by them? Whence, lest this should be so, being good, He gives them a share in His own Image, our Lord Jesus Christ, and makes them after His own Image and after His likeness: so that by such grace perceiving the Image, that is, the Word of the Father, they may be able through Him to get an idea of the Father, and knowing their Maker, live the happy and truly blessed life." (St. Athanasius, 11, Second Reason for the Incarnation, 2-3)

Advent 2020 - Day 17

 Seventeenth Day of the Advent Fast:

"For no longer now do we die as subject to condemnation; but as men who rise from the dead we await the general resurrection of all, which 1 Timothy 6:15 in its own times He shall show, even God, Who has also wrought it, and bestowed it upon us. 6. This then is the first cause of the Savior’s being made man." (St. Athanasius, 10. The Work of Redemption, 5)