On the Feast of the Dormition

Concerning the Dormition of the Theotokos, this is what the Church has received from ancient times from the tradition of the Fathers. When the time drew nigh that our Savior was well-pleased to take His Mother to Himself, He declared unto her through an Angel that three days hence, He would translate her from this temporal life to eternity and bliss. On hearing this, she went up with haste to the Mount of Olives, where she prayed continuously. Giving thanks to God, she returned to her house and prepared whatever was necessary for her burial. While these things were taking place, clouds caught up the Apostles from the ends of the earth, where each one happened to be preaching, and brought them at once to the house of the Mother of God, who informed them of the cause of their sudden gathering. As a mother, she consoled them in their affliction as was meet, and then raised her hands to Heaven and prayed for the peace of the world. She blessed the Apostles, and, reclining upon her bed with seemliness, gave up her all-holy spirit into the hands of her Son and God.

The prayer offered by the Theotokos for "the peace of the world" was not a prayer for only those gathered at her side, but for the Church for all time, until her beloved Son would return.

May that peace of this glorious Feast be with and remain with you, filling your hearts with the joy of knowing that the path taken by the Mother of God today is prepared for those who also worship her Son in Spirit and truth and love.

The Dormition of the Theotokos in the Holy Land

On August 12, at Little Gethsemane, at the second hour of the night, the head of the Gethsemane church celebrates Divine Liturgy. With the end of Liturgy, at the fourth hour of the morning, he serves a short Molieben before the resplendent burial shroud, lifts it in his hands and solemnly carries it beyond the church to Gethsemane proper where the holy sepulcher of the Mother of God is situated. All the members of the Russian Spiritual Mission in Jerusalem, with the head of the Mission presiding, participate each year in the procession (called the "Litania") with the holy burial shroud of the Mother of God..

The rite of the Burial of the Mother of God at Gethsemane begins customarily on the morning of August 14. A multitude of people with Hierarchs and clergy at the head set off from the Jerusalem Patriarchate (nearby the Church of the Resurrection of Christ) in sorrowful procession. Along the narrow alley-ways of the Holy City the funeral procession makes its way to Gethsemane. Toward the front of the procession an icon of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos is carried. Along the way, pilgrims meet the icon, kissing the image of the All-Pure Virgin Mary and lift children of various ages to the icon. After the clergy, in two rows walk the black-robed monks and nuns of the Holy City: Greeks, Romanians, Arabs, Russians. The procession, going along for about two hours, concludes with Lamentations at the Gethsemane church. In front the altar, beyond the burial chamber of the Mother of God, is a raised-up spot, upon which rests the burial shroud of the Most Holy Mother of God among fragrant flowers and myrtle, with precious coverings.

"O marvelous wonder! The Fount of Life is placed in the grave, and the grave doth become the ladder to Heaven..." Here at the grave of the All-Pure Virgin, these words strike deep with their original sense and grief is dispelled by joy: "Hail, Full of Grace, the Lord is with Thee, granting the world, through Thee, great mercy!"

Numerous pilgrims, having kissed the icon of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, following an ancient custom, then stoop down and go beneath it.

On the day of the Leave-taking of the feast (August 23), another solemn procession is made. On the return path, the holy burial shroud is carried by clergy led by the Archimandrite of Gethsemane.

There is an article in the "Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate", 1979, No. 3 regarding the rite of the litany and Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God in the Holy Land.

Today flowers are blessed in church, and people keep them in their homes. During times of family strife or illness, the flower petals are placed in the censer with the incense, and the whole house is censed. See the Prayer at the Sanctification of any Fragrant Herbage.

PRAYER AT THE SANCTIFICATION OF ANY FRAGRANT HERBAGE

(The usual beginning)

Let us pray to the Lord.

Lord have mercy.

O Lord God Almighty, Who fill all things according to Your word, and Who commanded the earth to bring forth every fruit in its season and to give it to mankind for gladness and for life: All-good Master, bless and sanctify by Your Holy Spirit, this seed and various herbage brought into this holy temple; and cleanse from every defilement these, Your servants taking this herbage and seed, and fill their homes with every good fragrance, that these may become, for all that preserve them with faith, and cense with it, preservation and deliverance from every increase of enemies, and for the banishment of every illusion which comes from the action of the devil, whether by day or by night, as well as for the blessing of souls and bodies for Your faithful people, and for the blessing of their work, houses and other places. For all that take this herbage, let them receive for themselves protection of souls and bodies, and may the healing mystery of Your Grace be for our salvation. And in whatever place it may be put, or wherever it may be used, let it be received for a blessing; and may Your right hand shelter it, driving away every adverse power from here, to the glory of Your most-holy, majestic and worshiped Name: to Whom is due all glory, honor and worship, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

The Priest shall sprinkle the herbage thrice with Holy Water pronouncing the usual formula of sprinkling and Sanctification.

Then shall he pronounce the Dismissal of the day.

On the Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord

Saint Ephraim teaches that Moses and Elijah were speaking words to our Lord such as these:  They thanked Him that their words and those of their fellow Prophets had been fulfilled by His coming.  They offered Him worship for the salvation He had wrought for the world and all of mankind, that He had fulfilled the mystery they had only sketched with their divinely inspired words.

There was joy in all creation by this ascent of Tabor.  The Prophets rejoiced when they saw our Lord’s humanity, which they had not known.  The Apostles rejoiced when they saw the glory of our Lord’s divinity, which THEY had not known.  These joys were sealed by the Father’s voice, by Moses’ and Elijah’s appearance, and by the witness borne by the Apostles.  The authors of the Old Covenant meet the authors of the New.  Moses meets Simon Peter.  He who struck the rock which poured forth water meets the one whom our Lord calls the Rock, who walks on the water.  John the Theologian meets Elijah, joining the vision of the virgin in the Old with the documentation of virgin in the New.  The tent that Peter begs to raise is raised indeed by the building of the Church of our Lord.  The one who rode the chariot of fire rejoices with the one who will lean his head upon the breast of the Flame itself.  Tabor becomes a Church, and on it Jesus unites the two Covenants, which His Holy Church receives, and makes known to us that He is the giver of both.

May we be filled with His light, the uncreated Light, the Light which overcomes all darkness!

It’s a glorious Feast!

Prayer, Praise, Song

"I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High!" (Ps 9:2)

The Orthodox Tradition is that our worship is corporate, not the act of an individual.  It's one of the reasons that I still struggle with memories of "cantors" who were present (yes) to "lead" the worship, but who all too often were used to "effect" the worship.  Most of us have sat in churches where (similarly) there is a glorious choir filled with the finest voices, singing hymns well rehearsed with a choir master.  And in that worship, all too often (admittedly not always) the faithful sit or stand to 'listen', some even to be 'entertained' by the wonderful music, well pleasing to the human ear.

I remember as a child, then as a young man, sitting first with my mother and my baba in church, and hearing the din which emitted from a particular man's lips as he desperately tried to lend his voice to the singing.  He had no voice.  Well, more to the point, he had no musical inclination at all.  "In tune" had no meaning to him, nor did "in tempo".  But he sang his heart out.  And it puzzled me (as a child, then later as a young man), "Why does no one tell him?"

Now, 50 or so years later, I know the answer to that question.  His voice may not have been pleasing to my ears, but there was no doubt that it was eminently pleasing to God!

Which brings us to the issue of "congregational singing" - a practice that we at Saint Herman's have followed from our inception.  There may be those who enter our walls and think, "Why are they doing this?  Where's the choir?"  But the fact is, when we pray, the participation level in that prayer is at a very high percentage. When people without musical training feel that there is no judgment of their offering of prayer, the results can be astoundingly wonderful.

Come and see!

Why this article today?  Because I just now came across a writing on the topic from Archbishop Averky, who wrote the following.  Enjoy, and - oh yes, "Come and see!  Come and sing!!!"

Congregational [public] singing in church is a strictly Orthodox tradition, for it is of ancient Christian origin. The restoration of congregational singing in our time must be hailed, for it has the most profound roots in the very concept of our Divine Services, in which all the faithful must accept participation "with one mouth and one heart."

The very structure of our Orthodox Divine Services, which requires a constant interchange, like a roll-call, of the exclamations of the priest and deacon with the reading of the tonsured reader, and the singing of the people, already presupposes the most active and conscious participation of all "those standing" in the Divine Service being celebrated, and not just a passive presence in the church, even if it is accompanied by private prayer.

Such an active participation of the laity in the Divine Services is indicated by those numerous notations in the Typicon and Divine Service books where the word "lik" [lit. face]...is very often replaced by the pronoun "we", as for example, "we sing in the most attractive voice, ‘Lord I have cried,’ or, "and we sing 'Joyous Light'."

Very often, instead of the "lik" the expression "people" is used: "and the people sing" (e. g. rubrics for Great Saturday at vespers).

From this, the exclamation of the priest in the Divine Liturgy, in which he calls upon the worshipers to glorify and sing praises to God not only with "one heart," but also with "one mouth," becomes comprehensible.

Thus, according to the concept of our Divine Services, ail the faithful must take part in the singing, if not in all, then at least in the majority of our Church hymns, rather than standing in church like idle spectators and listeners. The church is not a theater, where one goes only to see and hear beautiful singing, but a place of common prayer, in which all must participate in a fully conscious manner. All the more proper is such participation in the singing of the Symbol of Faith, which is our common confession of faith, and in the singing of the Lord's Prayer, "Our Father," which is sent up from the person of all of us to God, our common Father.

The intrusion into our Divine Services of Western concert-singing, accessible only to specially experienced singers with careful and lengthy preparation, forced out the choir of believers from a living participation in common liturgical singing and made those who come into church only listeners, but not living participants in common Church prayer. In this Western theatrical singing; all the attention is concentrated not on the words, but on the melody, which is more or less artificial-with bravura or sentimentality--but not at all churchly. Under the influence of this singing, in which it is often impossible to even make out the words, and which is deeply alien to the Orthodox ascetical spirit, many begin to come to church not for prayerful participation in the Divine Services, as in a common action of all the faithful, but only "to listen to beautiful singing, in order to experience aesthetic pleasure, which is, unfortunately, accepted by many in our time as a prayerful feeling. This, in union with irreligious upbringing and irreligious, often godless, school education, penetrated by an atheistic and materialistic spirit, leads to a greater and greater departure from genuine church mindedness and the understanding of the Divine Services by the broad majority of the believers. As a result, there has been a very great weakening of the immense significance of our Divine Services as a "school of religious training." Believers often come to church only "to cross the forehead," as the expression gees, but everything that takes place in Church is alien and incomprehensible to them. It is, therefore, not amazing that we now find people who request to receive Holy Communion at the all-night vigil, and are sincerely perplexed and even offended when they are told this is not possible.

The disappearance from our churches of congregational church singing and its replacement by a theatrical form of church singing by special "choirs" has undoubtedly aided the alienation of our society from church mindedness. Thus, the surest path for a return of our irreligious society to the Church is the return to the ancient practice which is in accord with the Church rubric: the restoration of congregational singing in our churches.

The "House of Grace"

This past Sunday, our Lord came to the “Sheep’s Pool”, which is known in Hebrew as “Bethesda”.  The meaning of this Jewish word is “the house of grace,” or “house of mercy.”

In that time, those who would come to make an offering at the Temple for those things prescribed by the Law of Moses would come to the sheep market which was near this place, and there purchase a sheep to take to the Temple to make their offering to God.  Before taking their purchase to the Temple, it would be appropriate to groom the animal, to make it presentable to God for the priests to offer within the Temple.

Thus, the “Sheep’s Pool”, a place where this washing of the animals to be offered would be done prior to taking them to the Temple.

As the Gospel for the day records, it is in this particular pool that miracles are granted to God’s people, as a “grace” to them, ergo the “House of grace”, Bethesda.  Saint John records the fact that here, the waters used to bathe the sheep are sometimes “disturbed” by an angel of God.

As our Lord comes to the Sheep’s Pool, the waters are calm, placid, peaceful, as are all things subject to His holy will.  And there our Lord finds this man, whom Saint John records has been ill for thirty-eight years.  He was ill before the Annunciation of our Lord to the Theotokos.  Even then, this man sat at the pool, waiting for his miracle.

He sat there while the child Jesus went to the Temple and spoke there with the elders, leaving his mother to worry over his being lost from their company of travelers.  The man sat at the pool as the Lord was baptized by John, as He was led to be tempted, as one by one the Apostles were called, as the multitudes were fed and healed.

In all that time, this man was at the pool, waiting, praying that he might be first to enter the waters and receive his healing.

But each time, someone else came before him.  He was always too late, the last to receive his goal, a goal which our Lord had set for him to receive at His own hand, and not the hand of His angel.

If we are to find the most obvious message, it needs to be that faithful perseverance will be rewarded.  The man knows the “sign of the angel,” that the waters are disturbed.  But he does not know the Author, the one whom the angel who stirs the waters himself serves.  He does not know Jesus Christ, who stands before him, asking what in human terms seems to be a callous question—”Do you want to be healed?” 

For thirty-eight years the man demonstrated his desire to walk, and within that desire was the desire for healing.  But his focus was purely physical.  Our Lord’s question to the man relates not to his inability to walk, but on his retention of the sins that ties him to this earth, to the place that had foiled his hope for all these years.

Like the man at the Sheep’s Pool, who came to the House of Mercy and of Grace, we find ourselves beggars at His house.  Even if we cannot find Him, He seeks us.  All we need is to recognize our spiritual paralysis, our need to receive diving healing of the sins which ail us, for no man can help us to receive that grace.  Then, we need to be ready to reply to His loving voice, “Yes, Lord—I want to be healed!”

Wednesday, Week of Palms

In the readings for this day comes wisdom from the Prophecy of Isaiah (58:1-11).  Below, we quote only the portion of verses 3-10:

'Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?' "In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, And exploit all your laborers. Indeed you fast for strife and debate, And to strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day, To make your voice heard on high. Is it a fast that I have chosen, A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, And to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, And an acceptable day to the Lord? "Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, 'Here I am.' "If you take away the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, If you extend your soul to the hungry And satisfy the afflicted soul, Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, And your darkness shall be as the noonday.

Here we find instruction in the fasting in which we should be partaking, not just here in the Great Fast, but throughout the entire year.  Loosing the bonds of wickedness.  Undoing heavy burdens.  Setting free those who are oppressed.  Sharing with the hungry, the outcasts, those in need of clothing, or indeed, and kind of need.

Have we taken to heart in our fasting the needs of those around us?  Do we even look, or are we so preoccupied with the emptiness of our stomachs that we bustle about, angered by feeling hunger which we bring on ourselves for the sake of 'spiritual benefit'.  But where is the benefit of being angered over fasting when we really do not want to do so?  Toward whom is our anger directed?  Towards fellow people in need?  Toward the Church for imposing such a constraint on me?  Or even toward God?

Here we hear the heart of God.  We come to understand that a "fast" is not only food.  A fast is to bring about works, good deeds, a view of the needs of those who are less fortunate than we are.

Have we begun to fast as God would have us do?  Or, are we another model of Israel????

Monday, Week of Palms

I despise the word "foreknowledge" and the concept of "predestination".  These words are designed to prejudice us into the belief that we have no control, no authority in our lives to choose the good from the evil, to accept God's mercy and reject Satan's temptations.  They imply that we are simply pawns being moved about at the whim of supernatural powers, over which we have no sway.

But the truth of the matter is that, while God possesses all "foreknowledge" of our choices, He never pushes us in any direction.  He gives us "freewill" to do as we please.  And within that freewill, we can choose to seek His blessings for whatever tasks we intend to undertake, or we can choose to "go it alone".  In either case, the fact that we have a choice to make, and that God gives us the latitude to make that choice for ourselves, does not alter the fact that before we take the path chosen only by us, He knows the result.

Why?

Because God is beyond time.  He is here and now, even as He is with Adam in Paradise, and even as He is at the Second Coming.  All has already been accomplished in His "time", while we remain in our own time, awaiting all things to be accomplished.

Why this topic for today?  Because within the book "The Bible and the Holy Fathers for Orthodox" (ISBN 0-9622536-0-X, Monastery Books) for this day is a writing from Origen which caught my attention.  It says, "In the times of relief between temptations let us stand firm for their onset, and let us be prepared for everything that can happen, so that whatever comes to pass, we may not be tested as though unready, but may be revealed as those who have disciplined themselves with extreme care.  For when we have accomplished all we can by ourselves, God will fulfill what is lacking because of human weakness.  In everything He works for good with those who love Him, those who are foreseen for whatever they will be by themselves, according to His foreknowledge, which cannot be false. ("On rayer", XXVII, 17-19)

The instruction is for us to remain vigilant, trusting in God for all things, whether we are being tested and tempted or whether we are in times of comparative calm.  We learn to lean on God when we are in the depths of trials.  Why do we so easily forget to lean on Him when we are at ease?  And yet we know that this is in fact 'human behavior'!

If we need encouragement along these lines, let us turn to Saint Paul, who teaches, "We had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God, Who raises the dead." (2Cor 1:9)

The First-born of the dead is about to be born for us by His own Power and Authority.  We are less than two weeks away from being witnesses at His Resurrection, His birth from death!  And He promised to take us with Him as He said, "I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also." (John 14:3)

Let us prepare ourselves, therefore, for always trusting in His loving care for us, and His long suffering with us.  For He loves us beyond our ability to understand....

Beginning of the Fast

Before we proceed, let us be the first to ask forgiveness of all for any offense we have committed, any sin in which we've engaged which has caused you harm or grief.  Know that we forgive all.

I've been reading "Everyday Saints" when time will allow.  This evening, I found the following passage in the book, and it seems to be written specifically for this time - the beginning of the Great Fast:

"It is remarkable but true that if one secludes oneself in prayer and limits oneself in food, sleep, and interaction with people, while not allowing any idle thoughts to enter the mind, nor any passionate feelings to enter the heart, then very quickly one discovers a truth: besides oneself and other people in this world there is also Someone Else.  And this Someone is patiently waiting to see whether we will pay attention to Him during our endless race through life.  He is simply patiently waiting, because God never forces Himself on anyone.  But if one continues to pray properly (here I must stress "properly", in other words, without arrogance, and under the supervision of an experienced guide), then before one's spiritual gaze remarkable phenomena and images begin to appear."

The wealth of the imagery of what this passage presents to us as we enter the Fast is also phenomenal.
1) Secluding oneself in prayer - Our daily prayer regimen should step up as we enter the fast.  Prayer strengthens our struggle against the body, just as fasting strengthens our desire and ability to pray.
2) Limiting our food - We know the rules, and yet we all too often rationalize, justify small cheats against the fullness of the fast, and in so doing, we do no harm to God, but rather we harm our reign over the body.  We allow the body to rule the soul, as opposed to the other, the 'proper' way around.
3) Limiting our sleep - This doesn't mean we need to "deprive" ourselves of sleep.  Rather, it urges us to guard against excess.  The issue arose in the book "Everyday Saints" in response to an urging to the young monk to pray at night, who was admonished by his elder to "remember the commandment of Saint Joseph of Volokolamsk - 'the day is for work, and the night is for prayer'."  Take some 'extra' time in the evenings to pray!
4) Interaction with people - For us, this is an admonishment against gathering to 'party' with others, or worse, to gather with others when the agenda of the gathering is to gossip.  Doing this negates any gain we might otherwise make in the Fast.
5) Not allowing idle thoughts to enter the mind - In short, keep busy.  Do good.  Give alms.  If you have 'spare time', use it to pray.  Don't allow time to become 'spare'!  Make all time "God's time".
6) Not allowing passionate feelings to enter the heart - Passionate here does not mean thoughts of lust (only).
'Passions' for this purpose are those feelings which rouse us to worldliness, to eat, to drink, to play, to follow the crowd when it leads away from God and toward the world.

If we do these things in purity of heart, even if we fail in small ways, Someone Else knows our hearts, and He will answer all those extra prayers we've labored so very hard to offer - for our friends, for those in need, for our enemies, and for ourselves.

May this Great Fast fill us all with such purity of heart, with the most sincere repentant hearts, and with changing our lives so that Someone Else has a home with us and in us.

Ponderings for the Sunday of the Prodigal Son

1) From C.S. Lewis:  "The gates of hell are locked from the inside."
2) From Saint Augustine of Hippo:  "There are two loves: of the world, and of God.  If the love of the world inhabits, there is no way for the love of God to enter.... You are a vessel, but as yet you are full.  Pour out what you have, so that you may receive what you do not have."
3)  From Saint John Climacus:  "If the Holy Spirit is peace of soul, as He is said to be, and as He is in truth, and if anger is disturbance of heart, as it actually is and as it is said to be, then nothing so prevents His presence in us as anger."

As we consider the Parable of the Prodigal, it is critically important to keep in mind that God gives to us the free will to create a hell for ourselves, and that entering therein (of our own free will), we can effectively lock out all who are outside, even God Himself.  And any place where God is not, that place is the definition of hell.

The Prodigal was filled with self.  He loved the world.  There was no room in him for the Father.  And the Father, recognizing this, sent him away to endure the suffering that He knew would come, but praying that the suffering would bring His son to his senses.  Once the Prodigal emptied himself of the world, he was only then able to receive what he had never recognized from the Father - His unconditional love.

The elder brother in the parable has so filled himself with anger for his brother that he has locked himself within his own hell.  The Father goes to the celebration of the return of His younger son.  The room is open to the elder brother, but he has locked the gates to the place in which he finds himself from the inside.  There is nothing that the Father could or would do to force him to give us his own free will to join the love of the Father again.  The elder son's anger has locked out the Spirit, blinded him to his own need for the same repentance that his younger brother needed, sought, and was rewarded with the Father's forgiveness.  Just as talents are not the same, neither are sins.  Envy over talents is not rational, nor is envy over how great we might perceive forgiveness to another to be.  If we believe, as today's elder brother does, that our sins are less than another, our hearts are already in the wrong place......

By The Waters of Babylon

Each year as we enter this season of the Triodion, we encounter the hymn “By the Waters of Babylon”, otherwise known as Psalm 136/137.  The hymn troubles many people for a myriad of reasons, but perhaps mostly with the means by which it closes.  Let’s take an in-depth look at the hymn, and at the Psalm, and see if we can come to understand what the Church is attempting to get us to absorb for our own benefit.

“By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, as we remembered Zion!  Alleluia!”

As the Psalm was written by the Jews, their complaint was about their Babylonian captivity, having been defeated by an unjust and an ungodly enemy.  And so, they wept for their state of living as slaves to unjust masters.

For us as Christians, Babylon is the sinfulness of this world.  The ‘waters of Babylon’ are the things which flow from the fallen state of the world, its sinful nature, its attempts at all turns to force us to conform to its fallenness, the things that tie us to this world, and not to our “home” – heaven, or in this Psalm, Zion and Jerusalem.  And so, we also sit and weep for our being held captive by the unjust and ungodly and sinful state of the world around us.  We desire with all of our hearts to be “at home,” as did the Jews.  Home for them was Zion, or Jerusalem.  Home for us is heaven, in the presence of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ.

Blessed Augustine writes that we should sit by the waters, and not dare to plunge into them, but instead weep for the state in which we find ourselves.

“Upon the willows in the midst thereof did we hang up our harps.  Alleluia!”

Our ‘harps’ are the instruments used to pray to and praise God - our voices!  In the presence of temptation that draws us back into a sinful world, we should hang up our harps, not using our voices, or any thing which we hold to be holy and sacred in any manner that serves the sinful desires of this world. 

Willows are trees that bear no fruit.  They are growing in the waters of Babylon, indicating that the waters feed that which is barren!  Things which are transitory, things which are tied to the cares of the world feed that which is unfruitful.  We can picture the Jews, sitting and weeping by the willows.  In our own world, we have "the weeping willow", a tree which similarly bears no fruit, and whose branches hang low, so that even the dew which collects on the leaves drips from the leaves as tears drip from the eyes.  The Latin name for the weeping willow?  Salix Babylonica!

“For there, they that had taken us captive asked us for words of song.  Alleluia!”

We are tempted by the delights of earthly things.  We struggle constantly with the temptations of the pleasures we know to be against our calling as Christians.  All of these things beckon to us to lend our voices to support them.  Think of the world around us, asking us to assent to abortion, to legalize drug use, to give credence to homosexuality.  They ask us to use our God-given voices to ‘sing’ the melodies that are sweet to them, but not to God.

“How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?  Alleluia!”

Truly, how strange is the land in which we are sojourning – not ‘living’ here, only occupying this place until we can go to our true home?  If we speak what we believe, what we hold as truth, we are shouted down.  We endure mockery.  The ‘strange land’ in which we live prevents us from ‘singing the Lord’s hymn’ to them, for they refuse to hear, or even to listen.

“If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten.  Alleluia!”

Please remember that Jerusalem is the metaphor for our home, for heaven.  If we forget heaven, if we forget the promise of what God has labored and died Himself to grant to us, what then is our hope founded upon?  Things that are here and will remain and die here?  Is that our hope?  If so, it is vanity!  If we begin to love the things of this world more than the promise of that which God has promised to us, then we have already forgotten Jerusalem.

“Let my tongue cleave to my throat if I do not remember you.  Alleluia”

The words mean, ‘Let me have no voice, let me be dumb.’  What words, what sounds can have any meaning to those whose home is heaven if those words do not serve our home, but instead serve Babylon? 

“If I set not Jerusalem above all others as at the head of my joy.  Alleluia!”

When heaven is promised to us, when the place to which we aspire to go is a place where there is no sickness, no sorrow, no suffering, but life everlasting in the presence of our Lord, how is this not the chief focus of our lives?  How is it not ‘the head of our joy’?  Where can we hope to find greater joy than when we are in the presence of our God?  What worldly things can allure us to remove this greatest focus?  

“Remember, O Lord, the sons of Edom in the day of Jerusalem.  Alleluia!”

Who were the ‘sons of Edom’?  Edom is another name for Esau.  Esau was the twin but older brother (by minutes) of Jacob.  Edom means ‘red’, the color of his hairy body at birth.  You’ll remember that Esau sold his birthright – that ‘right’ which goes to the eldest son – to his brother for the cost of some red stew.  It was the beginning of the end of a wholesome family.  Jacob went on to deliver the promise that God made to Abraham, and Esau’s offspring populated the land named for their ancestor, Edom, and became known as Edomites.  The two lands were in conflict throughout their histories.  On the day that the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem, the Edomites were their allies, and they urged the Babylonians to destroy the city, to not leave one stone upon another.

For us, there are those who seek the destruction of the Church, of our faith, of all who hold as holy the teachings of our Lord.  There are modern ‘sons of Edom’, and we must pray that our own ‘day of Jerusalem’, a day when the Church is about to be destroyed, may never come.  Christ promised, “The gates of Hades shall not prevail” against His Church (Mat 16:18).

“Who said, ‘Lay waste, lay waste to her, even to the foundations thereof.  Alleluia!”

These same enemies of Jerusalem sought to encourage their allies to leave no remnant of Jerusalem after its conquering – to destroy it utterly.  Carnal men, seeking not the will of God, but of Satan, to destroy all that is godly.

For us, who can deny that from the time the Church was founded that there have been other ‘sons of Edom’ who have sought the destruction of the Church, and who continue to do so?  It has occurred since the birth of the Church, and even before in the life of our Lord.  And it will continue until His return.  He leaves us the commandments found perhaps best in Mark Chapter 13, to be watchful, and then the promises, "He who endures to the end shall be saved." (Mark 13:13)

Now we get to the places where people most often have the greatest difficulty with the Psalm and the hymn.

“O daughter of Babylon, you wretched one.  Blessed is He who shall reward you with what you have rewarded us.  Alleluia!”

One which succeeds another is referred to as the ‘daughter’.  The daughter of Babylon comes from Babylon.  If Babylon is the destroyer of Jerusalem, then the daughter of Babylon is one who continues to attempt to destroy that which is godly.  In the Psalm Babylon ‘rewarded’ Jerusalem with the total destruction of all that tied them to God.  The prayer of the Psalm is one in which the Jews beseech God to separate them from the followers of Satan, and from his influence.  It carries this same meaning for us.  We sing blessings to the One who came, and overcame, and overthrew hell’s dominion over us.

And finally,

“Blessed shall he be who shall seize and dash your infants against the rock.  Alleluia!”

For the Jews in Babylon, it was an anguished cry to God to deliver them from those who had overthrown their city, slaughtered their men, destroyed their families, and most of all, attempted to destroy their faith.  If any offspring of the Babylonians arose, these offspring would have the power and authority to retain the Jews already captive in Babylon for generations.

For us, the One we are blessing is He who has defeated hell’s authority over us, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  He has come to take our ‘little ones’, the small offenses which, if we hold onto, if we forget Jerusalem, we allow to be watered by the waters of Babylon and to grow into full blown sins which will ensnare us to this world.  And so we seek His aid to dash these seedlings, these ‘infants’ before they take root and grow into that which will hold us for all the generations He may give us before He is ready to call us to be with Him in the heavenly Jerusalem.

The hymn does have significant meaning to us, and its meaning carries no sinister wishes, requests or prayers.  If we listen and understand, it elevates us out of the waters of Babylon.  It rejects Satan and his influence over this world.  And then, it lifts us to the very gates of heaven.

In Celebration of Our Patron

Today we celebrate the Feast Day of Saint Herman of Alaska, our beloved Patron Saint, from whom we can come to learn abundantly about loving the Lord, doing His will, and living simply.

Living simply… What a difficult concept this is for us in the world today.  We believe that unless we have a full bank account, triple locks on our doors to protect our valuables, security systems, cars with 15 air bags and surround sound satellite radio that we are somehow ‘not living at all.’  When did such an idea creep into our way of thinking?  I suppose that Madison Avenue has a lot of blame to accept in all of this, but rather than blame, let us look at the simplicity of Saint Herman.

It’s believed that Saint Herman was born in 1756, and from the age of 16 he lived the life of a monk at the Valaam Monastery, which is still present in Russia to this very day.  Valaam is located on an island inside Lake Lagoda, which is just northeast of the city of Saint Petersburg.  The missionary group sent from Valaam to Alaska would have traveled overland – a distance of more than 4000 miles through some of the most severe travel conditions imaginable.  There were nine others who made the journey with Saint Herman from Valaam to become missionaries in Alaska.  We are told from the historical accounts that “very quickly” several thousand native Americans accepted the faith!  

How could this have happened?  Did the native Aleuts not have SOME kind of faith, a god or gods to whom they prayed?  Clearly, they found in the faith and the LOVE shown them by our beloved Patron and those with him that the God known to these pious Russians was to be desired!  By their LOVE.  By their FAITH.  It’s a simple message, is it not?

The group built a school for the native children.  They built a church.  But things were severe.  Think Alaska. Think 1798.  Some of the monastic party died from the elements.  One perished in a boat that sank as he was returning to Russia.  Some were martyred.  After several years of working this missionary effort, only Saint Herman remained from that original group.  Yet, he continued!  It was a simple plan.  God sent him to reap where he had not sown.  And God sent him to sow where others would come later to reap.

His home?  A simple cave, dug from the ground with his bare hands, which was converted to his grave after his falling asleep in the Lord.  By the love of those whom He had brought to the faith, a cell was built for him later near this cave – a simple building to keep him warm during the severe winters.  He remained there until his death.

He sustained himself from a garden which he worked with his own hands.  Potatoes, cabbage, mushrooms, vegetables,…. All of which he dried to provide a means of carrying himself through the severe winters.  His labors?  The natives used large wicker baskets to haul seaweed to fertilize their gardens.  It took at least two people to carry a fully laden basket.  Saint Herman was observed doing this alone.  His disciple once observed him carrying a log that would have taken four men to carry – and he was barefoot.  Strong but simple!

His clothes were the same whether summer or winter – no shirt, just a smock of deer skin.  He had boots or shoes, and the inner and outer cassock and klobuk (hat) of a monk.  Three garments, a hat, and shoes.  I tried to teach four daughters that you CAN indeed live with one pair of shoes, but they never would believe me.  Saint Herman proves me right!  Simply clothed!

His bed?  It was a wooden bench covered with a deer skin.  His pillow?  Two bricks.  His blanket?  A wooden board which he warmed by a stove, which he left with instructions to cover his body after his repose.   He lived simply!

His ecclesiastical garb was completed with a cross, only his was not something like that you on today's priests.  Saint Herman made his own cross.  It was quite large, made of common metal, not anything precious.  It hung about his neck using common available shipping chains.  The combination weighed about 16 pounds!  It was simple!

Saint Herman had a pleasant tenor voice, and those who knew him loved to hear him come to the church to sing.  Once he was offered ordination to the priesthood, but he refused the honor, a fact that must give pause to any of us who stand today and wear the vestments of a priest.  Saint Herman preferred to serve his Lord as a simple monk.  

The missionaries to Alaska had been sent as a means of bringing the native Aleut people into submission – teaching them ‘obedience’ from the Church so that the furring companies operating in Alaska could more easily exploit the people there.  Those who had this perspective had no understanding of our Lord, of His commandments, and of the way that faithful clerics would apply those teachings.  For Saint Herman, his love for the people God had entrusted to his care reflected his own simplicity, as well as his tenacity.  This use of the word 'simple' should in no way be construed as indicating that his work or care was small or meaningless, but rather it was pure.  Saint Herman came to the defense of those entrusted to his spiritual care, going to battle with the authorities in Russia on more than one occasion.  He wrote to the authorities with such words as these:

"Our Creator granted to our beloved homeland this land which like a newly-born babe does not yet have the strength for knowledge or understanding. It requires not only protection, because of its infantile weakness and impotence, but also his sustenance. Even for this it does not yet have the ability to make an appeal on its own behalf. And since the welfare of this nation by the Providence of God, it is not known for how long, is dependent on and has been entrusted into the hands of the Russian government which has now been given into your own power, therefore I, the most humble servant of these people, and their nurse (nyanka) stand before you in their behalf, write this petition with tears of blood. Be our Father and our Protector. Certainly we do not know how to be eloquent, so with an inarticulate infant's tongue we say: Wipe away the tears of the defenseless orphans, cool the hearts melting away in the fire of sorrow. Help us to know what consolation means."

You could say that Saint Herman knew how to use words….

Saint Herman loved children, and the natives loved him for this.  He baked biscuits and cookies for them, often denying himself of his own provisions to give to those he loved, and who so loved him in return.

His care for his people?  Once a bitter and fatal illness was carried to the area from an inbound ship.  Those infected contracted a fever, which became a heavy cold, then difficulty in breathing, chills, and in three days it brought death.  There was no doctor.  There was no medicine.  There was no hope.  The disease infected all ages.  So many died that there were not enough remaining to dig graves.  People infected were gathered into barracks where many died and lay for lack of workers.  Children lay at their dead mother’s bodies longing for food that was not to be forthcoming.  Saint Herman labored throughout the month that this pestilence lasted, never tiring, never leaving the sides of those in need.  For some he admonished their fear.  For and with all, he prayed.  Some he brought to repentance and prepared them for death.  But he never considered his own health, only the pressing need of those whom God had given into his pastoral care.  It was a simple plan – Do what God has sent you to do!

The school cared for the orphans of the Aleuts.  From here Saint Herman taught them the faith and how to sing the Divine Services.  On Sundays his disciple would read Hours, and Saint Herman would read the Epistle and Gospel and then preach to the people.  The natives gathered in large numbers to hear his words, and his explanations of God’s plan for all of us. 

Saint Herman brought people to an understanding of God through simple argument.  Once a ship was sent to inspect Russian holdings in the area.  It was manned by a captain and twenty-five officers, all very well educated.  Saint Herman boarded the craft to teach.  He asked them all what they loved most, and what they desired to bring about their own happiness.  Various answers were given, mostly focused upon material things.  Saint Herman offered to them an argument.  “Isn’t it true that all of your desires come to one singular conclusion – that each of you desires what you understand to be most worthy of your love?”  It was a simple question.  The answer of course had to be, “Yes.”  So our patron continued.  “Wouldn’t you agree that our Lord Jesus Christ, who created us, gives us life, sustains us, and loves us is that most worthy goal of your love?”  Again the answer of, “Yes!” resounded through the room.  The Saint continued, “Then should we not love God above all, desire Him more than all, and seek Him out?”  Again the answer was, “Certainly!  Yes!”

Now our Patron had them where he wanted them!  So he asked, “But do you love God?”  To a man, they answered, “Certainly!  How can we not?”

Saint Herman’s reply to them is one that we must burn within our memories and our hearts until our own final day.  He replied, “I a sinner have been trying for more than forty years to love God, but I cannot say that I love Him completely.”

And from this argument, we have perhaps the most famous of our Patron Saint’s expressions of faith.  “From this day, from this hour, from this minute, let us strive to love God above all.”

It’s a simple expression of faith.  But that is what our beloved Patron brings to us.  Simplicity full of faith. 

We've not touched upon his many wondrous deeds.  Known as a wonderworker, no doubt we could fill hours outlining and discussing these deeds as well.

For us, for today, through the prayers of Saint Herman, let us seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and filled with the burning desire to follow our Patron’s path of simplicity.  The lives of all of us right now are far too complicated!  We live in a world where expressions like “mind traffic” and “information overload” are the norm.  Only one thing is needful – and that is finding Christ while we live, and then living as He commanded, in short, “loving Him above all”.  It is still a simple message.  In our search, let us take recourse to Saint Herman, asking for his intercession before the Lord, to seek forgiveness of our sins, to ask for mercy, and to come to the love of God that our beloved patron taught to all he encountered.  His simple plan of following where God would lead still can work for us today! 

Within the Akathist to Saint Herman, we offer the prayer, “As a good laborer you did your great spiritual work in a harsh climate in this land. In your service to God, you were faithful in the little things. And, as the Lord said: ‘You have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much.’”

We may not “be much”, but we are who we are by the grace of God, and that means that we are under the patronal protection of this wonderworking saint.  As he loved the spiritual children he was given by God in Alaska, we can imagine his love for us as well.  As he cared for them, he cares for us.  To him we can run for protection and help, just as they did in times of need. 

But on this day, we run to him not for help, but instead to offer our thanksgiving for that which he has already accomplished here amongst us.  Truly, God is wonderful in His saints!

In Celebration of a Wonderworker

Each year, as we come to the Feast of Saint Nicholas, I continue to be appalled at the corrupted view that the world has chosen to give to one of our Lord's greatest saints - Saint Nicholas.

Fat.  Laughing.  Herding reindeer. The best response I suppose we might offer in return is, "Bah!  Humbug!"

In Hudson for years now (on this day, now going into ten such years), the little congregation of Saint Herman's has attempted on a yearly basis to demonstrate and illustrate to the people of our town "Who is the REAL Saint Nicholas?"  How successful has the effort been?  God knows.  But if we've reached even one, the effort has been worth it.

As I prepare for the Vesperal Liturgy for his Feast, I often go back to read from the many wonders that Saint Nicholas has worked.  This year, a more recent account caught my attention, and I'll offer it to you as I found it.

In the 1920’s, Russia was in turmoil.  The communists were overrunning not only the political operation of the country, but in the process they were attempting to snuff out the church.

In Kiev at that time, there lived an elderly widow who had one son and one daughter.  The woman dearly loved Saint Nicholas, and in every instance when difficulty arose, she would go to the church for whom he was patron and pray before his icon.  She would always leave feeling consoled, her suffering eased.  Her son, after completing his student work, became an officer of the city. 

Now the city government was being changed by the Communists.  And as a show of force, they arrived and arrested all former city officials, this young man amongst them.  His sister, now beside herself, ran from government agency to agency, but could find out nothing about her brother.  The old woman instead ran to Saint Nicholas.  At the church, she prayed for endless hours.  When she returned to her home, as always, she was consoled – the saintly bishop would help.  While the daughter anguished over her lack of progress, the mother sat and sipped some tea.

Early the next morning, the son returned home.  Hungry, beaten, dirty, dead tired, he told of a large group of people like him who were taken in an armed convoy of guards, leading them to the town of Pechersk.  There in that town was a stadium of sorts where horses were raced, and beyond it, a grove with trenches dug to defend Russia against the Swedes when Peter I was Czar.  There, those taken were to be placed into the trenches and shot.

The son told the story that as they approached the stadium, a little old man came from around a corner.  He approached the leader of the soldiers and asked, “Where are you taking them?”  The commander said, “To Dukhonin’’s headquarters,” which in the jargon of the time meant “to be executed”.  He then said, “Go away, old man!”  The old man left, but not before grabbing this young man by the hand, and saying, “Let him go.  I know him.”

Neither the commander nor any of the guards even uttered a single word as the old man led the youth away.  Once out of sight of the guards, the old man said, “Go home to your mother,” and the old man immediately vanished.

The old woman was overjoyed to see her son, and immediately set off to give thanks to Saint Nicholas.  The son was so very tired and beaten that he wanted only to go to sleep, but the mother would have none of that.  She dragged him to the church.  While the boy may have been there occasionally, he had little interest in anything there when he was younger. 

As his mother led him into the church, she took him before the icon of Saint Nicholas.  The boy turned white and began to shake.  He could barely manage a whisper to his mother.  “Mother, dear, this is the same old man who led me to freedom…”

As Orthodox Christians, we neither need nor want any of the corrupted views of this Blessed Saint!  He is for all time a servant of the Living God, of Jesus Christ, and he has guarded and continues to guard those who run to him for help in times of trouble and need.  They go to him asking healing, protection from storms, intervention before Christ to save from sins.  They do not go asking for iPods, or Playstations, or bicycles.  His wonders aid the spirit.  They do not edify the desire for excess in a world overrun with excessiveness.  The words we sing in his honor resound with this idea.

O who love Nicholas the Saintly,

O who serve Nicholas the Saintly,

Him will Nicholas receive, 

And give help in time of need,

Holy Father Nicholas!

He who dwells in God's holy mansions

Is our help on the land and oceans.

He will guard us from all ills,

Keep us pure and free from sins,

Holy Father Nicholas!

Holy Saint, hearken to our prayer.

Let not life drive us to despair.

All our efforts shall not wane

Singing praises to your name:

Holy Father Nicholas!

Nicholas, tearfully we sinners

Beseech you in our fervent prayers.

Help us in our tribulations.

Comfort every Christian nation.

Holy Father Nicholas!

Ask these things of the blessed Saint.  And like the old woman, believe that his love, which is an image of the love of Christ, can and will deliver us from whatever evil may beset us.  Our battle is against evil, and not for "things".

Beginning of Advent - And A Commitment to Blog

With the coming of Advent, we all have the need to focus more on the spiritual, on the things which separate us from the perfection to which our Lord calls us (Mat 5:48).

As I began to consider my own preparation for this season, I thought it might be good to go back and take a "refresher course" in the handbook of the season, Saint Athanasius and his wonderful work,  "On the Incarnation of the Word of God."

Within that work, from the very beginning, we are taken back in time to the creation, to the perfection into which humanity was created through our fore-parents Adam and Eve.

We are introduced by Saint Athanasius to the issue of why it was necessary for God to come in the flesh with these words.

You must understand why it is that the Word of the Father, so great and so high, has been made manifest in bodily form.  He has not assumed a body as proper to His own nature, far from it, for as the Word He is without body.  He has been manifested in a human body for this reason only, out of the love and goodness of His Father, for the salvation of us men.

God the Son has come.  He has taken on my flesh, that which He created for me, which I have corrupted by living in and succumbing to the lures of this fallen world.  And in His taking on this flesh, He elevates it immediately to be associated with God.  He restores the connection to God within the act of His incarnation.

This coming week we will celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Theotokos, a Feast within which we will be witnesses as a child of three years ascends the fifteen steps to the sanctuary of the Temple in Jerusalem.  This miracle child, born to aged Joachim and Anna, will dwell within the Temple, and there will be fed by angels, will be taught the word of God, will live within the confines of a place dedicated to God and to prayer.  There she will learn other skills, such as that of weaving, as we learn from Holy Tradition that it was she who wove the veil of the Temple which itself was torn in half when the One for whom she will weave a human body not so many years later gives up His life upon the Cross.

Check in tomorrow for day 2 of 40.  And pray that our Lord will bless us all with a season of preparation for His coming in the flesh that will fill us not with worldly joy, but rather fill us with the joy of knowing God, of knowing His love for us, of knowing His gift to us.  And pray that by our joy which comes not from man but from God He will enable us to enlighten the world around us to the real meaning of the coming Feast of the Nativity of our Lord.

Who Is A Martyr?

We hear the word used in our contemporary society, and it is 'thrown around' as if it should apply to many.  But while there have been many martyrs, those who have earned the crowns of martyrdom share little (and I might go so far as to say "share nothing") with those who are improperly associated with the name today.

Per Webster, a martyr is "one who voluntarily suffers death as the penalty for refusing to renounce his religion."  The more appropriate definition would come from the Greek root, which means "witness".

Note carefully that in neither of these defining forms is there mention of one who murders others for a cause....  Curious, then, that the term has been subverted to use for people who choose to commit suicide in the process of killing others. We should be righteously indignant at the improper use of the word in contemporary society for those who should simply be labeled "mass murders"?  Shall we agree that any who deserves the name "martyr" has not committed murder - either of self, or of others?

With that starting premise, this article focuses on Saint Sophia, whose feast was celebrated in September, and who serves as the patron of our parish Sisterhood.  With her we recognize as martyrs her daughters, Faith, Hope, and Love.  Named after the three Christian virtues, her daughters were examples who lived up to their virtuous names.

Under the evil rule of the Emperor Hadrian, these four were called to his court, and the daughters one by one were called upon to renounce their faith in Jesus Christ and offer sacrifice to pagan idols.  As they refused, one by one, they were exposed to cruel tortures, and ultimately beheading.  For their faith, they indeed received their martyr's crowns.

But what of Saint Sophia?  Her name translates to "wisdom".  She stood by and witnessed the torture and murder of her beloved daughters.  In the Troparion we offer in her honor, we sing, "In your contest you offered to Christ the sweet fruit of your womb, your daughters Faith, Hope and Love." 

It is difficult for us, I think, to put ourselves in the position of Saint Sophia.  Which of us could contemplate going to a courthouse in our current day, with children in tow aging from 9 to 12, and encourage them to say things to the judge which would bring about their torture and ultimate death?  It's unfathomable.  And yet, this is the contest and offering of Saint Sophia.

Her encouragement to her daughters was not about giving up a glorious life on earth.  She knew that the only glorious life is in Christ, in the Kingdom of Heaven.  And so her encouragement to her daughters was to seize their opportunity to lay claim to their places near to their Master, to our Lord and Savior.

Saint Sophia suffered none of the tortures levied at her daughters.  She left Hadrian's court physically possessing all that she had when she entered.  And yet, the Church recognizes her as no less a martyr than any other throughout the history of the Church, and no less than her own daughters.  For she witnessed to her faith, she stood and witnessed to the love of Christ by her remaining steadfast in encouraging her daughters to endure, even to death.  And because of her faithfulness in so doing, she too was rewarded with her own martyrs crown, giving her life after burying her beloved daughters.

Why the repeated reference to "crowns"?  From 1Peter 5:4 - "When the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away."  From Revelation 2:10, to the Church of Smyrna - "Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life."  From Revelation 3:11, to the Church of Philadelphia - "Behold, I am coming quickly!  Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown."  Finally, from Saint John Chrysostom, "On the Priesthood", Book 2 - "For Christians above all men are forbidden to correct the stumblings of sinners by force.... It is necessary to make a man better not by force but by persuasion. We neither have authority granted us by law to restrain sinners, nor, if it were, should we know how to use it, since God gives the crown to those who are kept from evil not by force, but by choice."

No human body was put in danger by Sophia and her daughters.  No human life was threatened.  No ill came to any at the hands of these whom we recognize as martyrs.  In fact, today in the Kingdom, these four intercede before the Lord for any who are set upon by unrighteous acts of mankind toward those who with wisdom follow the Lord in faith, in hope, and in love.

Being "in" the world but not "of" it

It's an expression we use a lot, I think.  We try to help one another by encouraging each other to live here, but live as if we are already in the Kingdom of Heaven.  The saints have a way of showing this to us.  

But for us, it seems difficult to grasp the concept.  I mean, I'm HERE, aren't I.  How can I be HERE in body, but not in spirit?  How can I project my spirit to a place where my body is not?

As I write, I do so from the lobby of a very nice hotel (no, not expensive, just 'nice') adjacent to the airport in Tokyo.  Sitting here, I "believe" that a business colleague is coming to collect me in about 30 minutes.  I "believe" that we will be driving to a place with which he is familiar.  I "believe" that he will deposit me in another suitable hotel for the night, where we'll prepare the efforts for the day ahead, and try to satisfy a secular customer of the business for which we both work.

And as I write, I come to recognize that my body is HERE, but my spirit is truly somewhere else.  For as a pastor, my heart is with my flock, with the people whom God has entrusted to my imperfect care.  I am a sinful man sitting 7000 miles from his sheep, and praying that my own Master will keep them from danger and harm while I am gone.

What a thing to pray!  For how can one pray in such a manner now, while the body is HERE, but the spirit is somewhere else?  How can prayers now be any different in fashion from those when the body is THERE, where the spirit is also?  Do I really think that it is by my own actions and care that said flock stays well and secure when my body is THERE simply because I am THERE?  Such a thought is utter foolishness!  For regardless of where my body is, those who belong to the Lord are His.  He shares their care with sinful men like me, and it is not until our bodies are HERE that we come to recognize the smallness of our being THERE in comparison with His divine care at all times, not only for the flock, but for the shepherd who cares for them.

It is in that recognition that one can find peace with being HERE, or in fact anywhere.  For all things are His, and happen according to His holy will.  All we can do is be faithful to remain focused on His teachings to us, His instructions for us, being thankful for all we receive, both blessings and strife, both health and sickness, both sadness and joy.  For in all things we can turn to Him and find Him.

Because He is HERE, no matter where HERE is!

A "Birthday" of Sorts

We would be remiss if we did not recognize this date as a "birthday".

At Saint Herman's in Hudson, we have a kind of "portable mentality".  Our building is rented space inside the city cemetery, and so we need to "tear down" our worship facility periodically (when the city arranges for the building to be used by others).  We are therefore not permitted to have any permanent signage outside the building, and so we have portable placards.

I mention these because they proclaim boldly the continuous pattern of Orthodox worship in this continent since 1794.  And thus, the 'birthday'.

It was on this day, 24September1794 that a missionary group from Russia landed in Alaska.  The group, which included one archimandrite, three priestmonks, one deacon monk, and one lay monk, departed from St. Petersburg on 21Dec1793.  They traveled 7300 miles in 293 days (25 miles per day).

The monks, as they arrived, had great compassion for the natives, who had been exploited by their countrymen who came to this region to trade in fur.

From the OCA web site (http://oca.org/history-archives/orthodox-christians-na/chapter-1), the following account of our own beloved Patron Saint Herman can be found:

The more general success of the Alaskan mission can be explained only by the heroic efforts of the missionaries in defending the Alaskans from Baranov and his henchmen, as well as by the missionaries’ sensitive approach to the pre-Christian spirituality of the Aleuts. The Russian monks presented Orthodox Christianity not as the abolition, but as the fulfillment, of the Aleut’s ancient religious heritage. Most persuasively, the personal example of the monk Herman provided the natives with tangible evidence that the Gospel, when embraced with full dedication and commitment, produced God-like men.

To avoid harassment (and possible assassination at the hands of Baranov’s men), the monk Herman left Kodiak sometime between 1808-1818, and relocated to Spruce Island, three miles to the north. He named his small hermitage “New Valaam,” in honor of his former monastery, from earlier generations of Orthodox monks had set out to evangelize Karelian, Lapp, and Finnish tribespeople. At New Valaam, Herman spent the rest of his life teaching the Aleuts, nursing the sick, raising orphans, praying, and working miracles. Most importantly, through his kindness, compassion and personal holiness, Herman exemplified an ideal Christian life. The last surviving member of the original mission, Herman died in 1837. His remains repose in Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church in Kodiak. The Aleuts never forgot the humble monk nor his legacy of prayer and deeds. Largely at their insistence, Herman was canonized in 1970 by the Orthodox Church in America as the first Orthodox saint America.

Through the prayers of Saint Herman of Alaska, Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and save us!  Amen!!

Darkness and the Light of the Cross

Our world is a dangerous place.

There is (at least in the distorted memories of some of us) a recollection of a time when that danger was 'focused'.  Some of us grew up in the era when we were worried (perhaps consumed is a better description) about global nuclear destruction.  We participated in "drills" in our grade schools, climbing into interior rooms, being taught to crouch beneath strong tables - as if that were going to save us from a nuclear blast....

Today, the enemy is less focused.  He comes from a myriad of directions.  We have drug deals going down in the neighborhoods that surround us.  You can search on-line to find the meth-labs which have most recently been closed down - in your own neighborhood.  We have gangs in our cities, extremists in our towns, and polarization of our society to such an extent that we often feel that there are no people who share most of what we hold as truth in common with us.  We have wars which our military is fighting on more fronts than we knew existed 50 years ago.  We have ambassadors being murdered by "friends", political "allies" who are working against us, and partners whom we are disavowing.

Darkness seems to be everywhere.

Jesus taught about "darkness".  Among the things He left us as instruction are:

"The lamp of the body is the eye.  Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light.  But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness.  Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness." (Luke 11:34-35)

The importance of this instruction is borne witness to in the Gospel of Saint John:

"In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men.  And the Light shines in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it." (John 1:4-5)

The Saints and the Holy Fathers have written gloriously of the Cross and its meaning to us.  Far be it from this sinful and humble priest to attempt to enhance that which they have already accomplished.  So, let us go to their writings for wisdom into this issue.

From Saint Ephraim the Syrian:  "The Cross abolished idolatrous adulation, enlightened the whole universe, gathered all the nations into one Church and united them with love...  The Cross is Light for those sitting in darkness....  Therefore on the forehead, and on the eyes, and on the mouth, and on the breasts let us place the life-giving Cross. Let us arm them with the invincible armor of Christians, with this hope of the faithful, with this gentle light."

From Vespers of the Feast:  "Shine, Cross of the Lord!  Shine with the Light of your grace upon those who honor You."

Given Saint John the Theologian's witness to the Light of Christ above, we can look to the instruction of Saint John of Kronstadt:  "Why do we honor the Cross wit such reverence that we make mention of its power in our prayers after asking  for the intercession of the Mother of God and the Heavenly Powers, before askin gfor that of the Saints, and sometimes even before asking for that of the Heavenly Powers?  Because after the Savior's sufferings, the Cross became the sign of the Son of Man, that is, the Cross signifies the Lord Himself, incarnate and suffering for our salvation."

And so, the Cross which we honor on this day carries with it the Light of the Word, the ability to bring to light that which is in darkness.

One can enter a dark room with a single candle, and the light of that candle will fill the room.  One cannot enter a room filled with light with any source of darkness and overcome the light with that darkness.  Light defeats darkness.

In a world rushing headlong towards darkness, it is we who carry upon our breasts the Cross of Christ.  We carry Him in our hearts.  He is present within us through the Holy Eucharist.  His light enters all places where we may go, so long as we allow Him to shine forth, and not to cover His light with that basket of our humanity, our sins, our own darkness.

The Lord's words above from Saint Luke instruct us in exactly this point.  We have "an eye" - it is not the physical eye which sends signals to our brain to keep us from stubbing our toes on things before us.  It is the eye of our spirits, which illumines our way in all truth, which shines to show us that which will preserve us from falling not into a physical pit, but from falling into evil.  It is this light that our spiritual eye must perceive. If that spiritual eye is "bad", we truly will be filled with spiritual darkness.  And like those spoken of by Saint John the Theologian, we may have that Light shining brightly around us, but how will we comprehend it?

The Cross is our key.  It is all that the Holy Fathers and the Saints have described from the beginning of the Church, and more.  On this day, as we elevate and exult it ourselves, let us bask in its light, and so be illumined, set ablaze by it, so that the Light of Christ may truly illumine all.

It's Been a Long Two Weeks

Withdrawal - It's a word we use too often to refer to the effects of someone who is under an evil influence, like drugs or alcohol or tobacco.  But the word can and does apply to positive situations as well.

As this is being written, there is a high-definition speaker system above my head blaring rock music in Korean.  I can't understand a word of it.  And the strange thing is - it's almost as if it's not even there.  The focus of the moment is not the loud music which surrounds, the odors of the food court in the airport, or even that western guy who seems angry at the poor Korean kid working at the Burger King because he can't understand "onion ring".....

No, what's important at the moment is the closure of being withdrawn from a "normal" spiritual life, from a week in which there is a rhythm, a schedule to which we pray, eat and fast, worship, and commune with God and with our brothers and sisters in Christ.  It is this withdrawal to which this short tome refers, and from which this sinful priest will shortly be delivered (by God's grace) through His provision of a complex machine that moves through the air, His gift of skills to a crew of pilots and ground support, and His grace to have completed a work effort hopefully in concert with His expectations, but also hopefully in concert with the expectations of a secular employer and its customers.

Yes, the return is to a beloved wife, to children and grandchildren, and the reunion with them will be sweet indeed.  But the return is also to a flock who is no less loved and cared for, to a building that we too often denigrate but remains yet another undeserved gift from God, to a job which provides support for all of these.
The more important return, though, is to Vespers, and Liturgy, and uninterrupted morning prayers, and Akathists, and visits to those in need.

For all of your prayers during this trip, for which I am unworthy, I offer humble thanks.  Now, turn those same prayers to seeking God's will in the coming months for the mission of Saint Herman of Alaska in Hudson!  Let us together seek God's will through our fervent prayers to Saint Herman and to the Theotokos!

Why Do I Feel As If I'm Making No Spiritual Progress?

It’s a question we often ask ourselves.  There are just times in our lives when we seem to feel that God is not answering our prayers.  We want peace, and we are in turmoil.  We want to feel as if we’ve forgiven someone, but in our next encounter with them, the past is remembered, and we can’t truly say our forgiveness is complete.  We want to pray meaningfully, but after our prayers, we feel empty.

If we think for a few moments, we’ll find that there are other examples of how we feel that our spiritual progress is just not what we hoped it would be.  Does any of this sound familiar?  

And so, what do we do? 

If you are an athlete, how do you train for an event?  If you wish to run a 100 yard dash, do you go to the track the day before the race, run the course once, and think it to be enough?  The Olympics are beginning.  Those who are considered the best athletes in the world are there, and they are competing.  Do you think that there is one of them who has dedicated just the past month to training?  Most of those who go to compete have dedicated their entire young lives to achieving the goal of getting to this competition, for being given the chance to measure themselves against the best in the world, and to see if they can overcome the limitations that they know that they still have to emerge victorious over the others.

Do we hear and understand that last statement.  Those who go know that they have not achieved perfection.  They know that they have limitations.  How do they deal with this?  They compete so that their limitations do not come to the forefront.  They find ways to overcome the limitations.  If a gymnast knows from training that they’ve succeeded in performing a triple jump once in every 50 tries, you can count on them not including it in their routine!

What does this mean for us?  It means that we too need to see our limitations.  They, like our talents, are also “God given.”  If we were not limited in this way, how much more difficult would it be for us to find humility in our daily lives?

Saint Leonid of Optina was once asked by one who sought his spiritual counsel, “Why, after years of struggle, do I find myself worse instead of better, more inconsiderate, colder of heart?”  Saint Leonid’s reply can enlighten us in our own struggles.

“Very few have flown up in a short time on the wings of faith and virtue into the spiritual heaven, or have sensed in themselves the undying pledge of hope and the betrothal of future glory.  There are others who will never sense this during their whole life on earth.  They will not sense it according to the dispensation (the gift) of our heavenly Protector, God, Who always provides what is best for us.  For we, infants in our understanding of the judgments of Him Who directs the world, often ask of Him such tools which in their own right and power are for our salvation, but we would put them to entirely detrimental use because of our inexperience.  Therefore, the loving Father of lights hides from certain pious people the gifts which are for the salvation of some, but to others bring perdition.  What would happen if God, Who knows all things, completely fulfilled our every wish?  I think, but I’m not saying for certain, that everyone in the world would perish.  Even though He does not reject the prayers of His chosen ones, God still does not at all times fulfill their desires.  And this only in order to arrange everything in a better way, in keeping with His divine intent.  Just because you see yourself making no progress does not mean that you are not making any progress at all.  Such feelings can plant sincere humility in your heart.  And when you have the genuine awareness that you are deprived of spiritual fruit, then make an unfailing effort to force your striving with God.  When we have had no success in the virtues, three is no closer means for salvation than humbleness of mind.  Haughtiness, even when joined to the virtues, is offensive to God.  But a meek thought will not be forgotten before Him.”

God’s wisdom is greater than we can imagine.  Even we have the wisdom to know, for instance, that a child is not ready to drive a car.  All of the muscles, all of the awareness, they are present in the child.  But the child lacks the experience to control unforeseen things.  How can we expect God’s wisdom for us to be less than our own?  It is folly to think in this way!  He gives to us what we need, when we are ready.

It is up to us to be accepting (and thankful) for that which we have, to recognize it as adequate (for God always gives us what we need), and to seek His will (and not our own) from that starting point.