Saints Peter and Paul

 Being exposed to both the Gospels and the Epistles throughout the Worship Calendar for each year, we are certainly not unfamiliar with Saints Peter and Paul.  But as to knowledge of what happened to them as missionaries, we begin to lose sight of who they are to the Church.

We speak often of how the Church’s teachings about any particular Feast come from Her hymnology.  And so let us give consideration on this day to some of the hymns that come from Matins for this Feast Day.  The following are three Kathisma from the service.  The first sings the praises of St. Peter.

Having abandoned the fishing grounds, you received from the Father Himself the revelation of the Word’s Incarnation, and as one who is privileged you cried to all, saying to your Creator, ‘I have known You as Son of God, consubstantial with Him.  Therefore you were truly revealed as the rock of faith, as is proper, and a trustee of the keys of grace.  Intercede, therefore, O Apostle Peter, with Christ our God to grant forgiveness of sins to those who eagerly celebrate your memory.

The second sings the praises of St. Paul

From heaven, from Christ our God, you received the call, and you appeared as the preacher of Light, illuminating all with the teachings of grace; for having challenged the worship of the written Law, you caused the knowledge of the Spirit to rise for believers.  Therefore you worthily ascended to the third heaven and attained Paradise.  Therefore, O Holy Apostle Paul, intercede with Christ our God to grant forgiveness of sins to those who eagerly celebrate your holy memory.

And a third that praises both.

Let us extol those two great luminaries of exceeding radiance, the all-wise Peter and Paul, who have been manifested as heads of the Disciples, radiating with the fire of the Divine Spirit, and burning up the darkness of error, thus attaining worthily their abode in the kingdom on high, being equal in grace and rank.  Therefore we cry out to them saying, ‘O Apostles of Christ our God, seek forgiveness of sins for those who eagerly celebrate your holy memory.

In the services for this day the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul are glorified, as friends of Christ,  of the heavenly recesses, rivers of knowledge, feeders of the entire inhabited world, preachers of true piety, intercessors for the whole world, disciples of Christ and founders of the Church, true pillars and walls, and trumpets of the doctrine and suffering of the divine Christ, fishers of the world, possessors of the keys of the Kingdom, prototypes of the preachers of God, chiefs of the Apostles.

The Prologue records these words:

Unlearned and learned but equal in spirit and in the love of God, as strong as angels, Peter a simple man, Paul educated, both illumined, by the grace of the Spirit, two flaming candles, unquenchable, towering and beautiful, two brilliant stars, traversed the earth and spread the light. Nothing did they take, to men they gave all, completely poor, the world they enriched, prisoners and servants, conquered the entire world with the teaching of Christ, enriched the world, with a new weapon conquered the entire world: by humility and peace and meekness blessed, Prayer and fasting and mercy powerful. When to them, that stormy day, arrived the stormy night, bloodthirsty Nero, their life cut short.  But when the ruler of the world, a command issued and to suffering, gave over Peter and Paul the world was theirs and not his [Nero's] anymore, by death, the apostles gained the Kingdom.

The Comforter

 Since the bright day of our Lord’s Resurrection, we’ve refrained from using “the prayer of the Holy Spirit.”  In none of our Divine Services have we uttered His prayer:

O Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, Who is everywhere present and fills all things.  Treasury of blessings, and Giver of Life: Come and abide in us, and cleanse us from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One!

Our refraining from offering this prayer in no way detracts from our worship of nor our honor toward the Third Person of the Holy Trinity.  It is simply a move toward first and foremost the importance of the Resurrection in our lives.  For those forty days we dedicate deference to Christ’s Life Creating work of Resurrection, His destruction of death BY His death!

And for the intervening ten days we give that same deference to the recognition of His Glorious Ascension, for it is by this creative act that mankind is blessed to receive the path to His heavenly kingdom, and that we as His created race find a body like ours seated at the right hand of the Father—in Glory!

Today, the Holy Church returns to Her “normal” practice of worship.  Today we reinstitute the practice of kneeling, something that also “disappeared” with the advent of our Lord’s Resurrection.

There’s another Liturgical ‘change’ that we reinstate today that has also been missing for the past fifty days.  This is our offering the hymn sung after the Holy Eucharist is returned to the Altar after communing the faithful:

We have seen the True Light.  We have received the Heavenly Spirit.  We have found the True Faith, worshipping the undivided Trinity, Who has saved us.

Our Lord taught us, I am the Light of the world.  He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

And so within this prayer, we acknowledge the fullness of the Trinity—Christ as the One Who illumines us in faith, the Holy Spirit Who fills us with His understanding, and the Father as the Completion of the Divine Trinity.  For as the hymn states clearly, it is through the Holy Trinity that we find salvation.

We find the full revelation of the Trinity once again in the Church’s hymnology from Vespers:

Come, O people, let us worship the Godhead in three Persons: the Son in the Father, with the Holy Spirit.  For the Father timelessly begot the Son, co-eternal and co-enthroned with Him; and the Holy Spirit was in the Father and is glorified with the Son.  We worship one Power, one Essence, one Godhead, and we say: “Holy God, Who created all things through Your Son with the cooperation of the Holy Spirit; Holy Mighty, through Whom we know the Father; and through Whom the Holy Spirit came to dwell in the world; Holy Immortal, Comforting Spirit, Who proceeded from the Father and rests in the Son.  O Holy Trinity, glory to You!”

On this day, let us all worship God in Trinity, one in essence, and undivided, Who loves His creation mankind sufficiently to become one of us, and to dwell among and in us!

From 'The Prologue' for 11May

 REFLECTION:

In the Saracen encampment they asked St. Cyril, "How can Christians wage war and at the same time keep Christ's commandment to pray to God for their enemies?"

To this, St. Cyril replied, "If two commandments were written in one law and given to men for fulfilling, which man would be a better follower of the law, the one who fulfilled one commandment, or the one who fulfilled both?"

The Saracens replied, "Undoubtedly, he who fulfills both commandments."

St. Cyril continued, "Christ our God commands us to pray to God for those who persecute us and even to do good to them.  But He also said to us, "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13)."  That is why we bear the insults that our enemies cast at us individually and why we pray to God for them.  However, as a society, we defend one another and lay down our lives, so that you would not enslave our brethren, would not enslave their souls with their bodies, and would not destroy them in both body and soul."

A Homily for Mother's Day

 

Paralysis

 pə-răl′ĭ-sĭs—noun; 1) loss or impairment of the ability to move a body part, usually as a result of damage to its nerve supply; 2) loss of sensation over a region of the body; 3) inability to move or function, total stoppage or severe impairment of activity

Well, at least what the American Heritage Dictionary says about the word.

We find this kind of paralysis in today’s Gospel’s description of the paralytic that our Lord finds at the pool by the Sheep’s Gate.

The pool was near to the Temple.  Faithful Jews would bring their offering of sheep for sacrifice in the Temple and bathe them in this pool to remove the filth that living in the world attached to them.  Then they would take their clean animals into the Temple as an offering for their sins.

The man whom we know only as “the paralytic” is found by our Lord sitting near this pool.  Why?  Because at a certain time an angel came and stirred the water granting a healing blessing to the first to enter.  Being paralyzed, the man sought this healing.  When our Lord asks Do you want to be made well, the man who suffered this malady for 38 years simply replied, Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred.  Now, this poor unfortunate has the God-man, the Son of Man, and the water is superfluous.  For our Lord heals the man, not by touch, not by using the water, but by His word alone.  Rise, take up your bed and walk.

St. John records that immediately the man was made well, not in hours, not after going to another location, but as soon as our Lord spoke the word, he could stand.  He could move!

Many may respond, “That’s great, father.  I’m not paralyzed.  What does it mean to me?”

You (and I) may not be paralyzed according to the opening definition.  But I submit to you an alternate definition of paralysis:  4) inability to function, or total stoppage or severe impairment to move spiritually.

Now, let’s reconsider our divorcing ourselves from today’s miracle, for I think I must conclude for myself that I indeed DO suffer from such spiritual paralysis.  How so?

The first manifestation is “excuses”.  When it’s time to pray, I’m too busy, too tired, unprepared.  In short, there are “things” that prevent me from taking the action called for.  I SHOULD MOVE, BUT I DON’T. 

Another manifestation is “judgmentalism”.  There are those my Lord would describe as my neighbor, but I don’t do for them what He has shown me as my example with the Good Samaritan.  I set my own value on them by ascribing to myself the greater importance.  I covet my time, my resources, my ability to be a help, and hold them to myself.  The blessings God has given me, I do not share with those in need.  I SHOULD MOVE, BUT I DON’T. 

Can I yet hear my Lord asking ME, Do you want to be made well?  You see, there is a certain measure of comfort in my spiritual paralysis, isn’t there?

And so I look and see myself sitting by my own Sheep’s Pool and asking, “Is there anyone who will put me in?” 

You see, I DO want to change!

Christ is Risen!

Things Will Never Be The Same

 Having experienced our Lord’s glorious Resurrection, having shouted joyously just two weeks ago, “Christ is Risen!”, we find ourselves now “settling in” to what we might couch as a more normal pattern.  The intensity of services every day (often multiple services) has passed.  Even the memory of how we wept hearing the Gospel readings of Holy Week, and how the words He gave up His spirit tore at our hearts, those have been properly supplanted by the joyous recognition of Christ’s victory over death and Hades.

But ‘normal’ is not a place to live out our lives!  While knowing the Lord’s victory is real, we also live still in this fallen world, and we recognize our need to change the way we interact with His world, with His people, with those He pointed us toward as the least of His brethren.

In short, we must live as though we carry the Resurrection within us, its joyous message for all of humankind filling us.  It would be the greatest thing to have people around us notice this about us, and have them ask us, “Why are you always so happy?”, just so that we could respond simply, directly, “Because Christ is Risen, and nothing will ever be the same!”

From that “eighth day” when our Lord came to His Apostles through closed doors, the Resurrection was made forever real to this world.  From that day forward, every Sunday is “a little Pascha”, a day of Resurrection.

Within the prayers of the Divine Liturgy, as the clergy enter the altar as part of the Great Entrance with the Holy Gifts, the priest prays these words:  In the tomb with the Body, in hell with the Soul, in Paradise with the thief, and on the throne with the Father and the Spirit are You, O boundless Christ, filling all things. 

This image of “filling all things” belongs to God in Trinity.  We prayed it in the words above.  When we pray the prayer to the Holy Spirit, we say, Who is everywhere present and fills all things.” We confess in both that all of creation is bound together by God and His divine love for us, His creation. 

He intended for us to be with Him for all time—in Paradise– from the point of creation.  When we separated ourselves from Him by our sin, He did not abandon us to eternal separation from Him.  Instead, He came, put on our flesh.  And when He by His own power raised Himself from the dead, He carried all of humanity (those who choose to be His servants) to return to that Paradise He made for us from the beginning.

Before the Resurrection, there was no path that we as humans could define to bring ourselves to God.  Through the Resurrection, all of creation has been renewed, restored.  Jesus told His Apostles before going to the Cross, Where I go you know, and the way you know. (John 14:4)  He has blazed the path, and called us to follow.

The end to the prayer offered from St. John’s Liturgy before ends with these words:  Bearing life and more fruitful than Paradise, brighter than any royal chamber, Your tomb, O Christ, is the fountain of our Resurrection.

Let us as one carry with us wherever we go the knowledge that He has won that final, eternal victory, and we must rejoice.

Christ is Risen!

A Prayer Rule - St. Theophan the Recluse

[The following is from the book, "The Spiritual Life and How to Be Attuned to It" (St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 1996, Ch. 47)  I cannot recommend this book highly enough.  If you've not read it, acquire it and give it a place of honor in your library.  FrB]

You ask about a prayer rule. Yes, it is good to have a prayer rule on account of our weakness so that on the one hand we do not give in to laziness, and on the other hand we restrain our enthusiasm to its proper measure. The greatest practitioners of prayer kept a prayer rule. They would always begin with established prayers, and if during the course of these a prayer started on its own, they would put aside the others and pray that prayer. If this is what the great practitioners of prayer did, all the more reason for us to do so. Without established prayers, we would not know how to pray at all. Without them, we would be left entirely without prayer.

However, one does not have to do many prayers. It is better to perform a small number of prayers properly than to hurry through a large number of prayers, because it is difficult to maintain the heat of prayerful zeal when they are performed to excess.

I would consider the morning and evening prayers as set out in the prayer books to be entirely sufficient for you. Just try each time to carry them out with full attention and corresponding feelings. To be more successful at this, spend a little of your free time at reading over all the prayers separately. Think them over and feel them, so that when you recite them at your prayer rule, you will know the holy thoughts and feelings that are contained in them. Prayer does not mean that we just recite prayers, but that we assimilate their content within ourselves, and pronounce them as if they came from our minds and hearts.

After you have considered and felt the prayers, work at memorizing them. Then you will not have to fumble about for your prayer book and light when it is time to pray; neither will you be distracted by anything you see while you are performing your prayers, but can more easily maintain thoughtful petition toward God. You will see for yourself what a great help this is. The fact that you will have your prayer book with you at all times and in all places is of great significance.

Being thus prepared, when you stand at prayer be careful to keep your mind from drifting and your feeling from coldness and indifference, exerting yourself in every way to keep your attention and to spark warmth of feeling. After you have recited each prayer, make prostrations, as many as you like, accompanied by a prayer for any necessity that you feel, or by the usual short prayer. This will lengthen your prayer time a little, but its power will be increased. You should pray a little longer on your own especially at the end of your prayers, asking forgiveness for unintentional straying of the mind, and placing yourself in God's hands for the entire day.

You must also maintain prayerful attention toward God throughout the day. For this, as we have already mentioned more than once, there is remembrance of God; and for remembrance of God, there are short prayers. It is good, very good, to memorize several psalms and recite them while you are working or between tasks, doing this instead of short prayers sometimes, with concentration. This is one of the most ancient Christian customs, mentioned by and included in the rules of St. Pachomius and St. Anthony.

After spending the day in this manner, you must pray more diligently and with more concentration in the evening. Increase your prostrations and petitions to God, and after you have placed yourself in Divine hands once again, go to bed with a short prayer on your lips and fall asleep with it or recite some psalm.

Which psalms should you memorize? Memorize the ones that strike your heart as you are reading them. Each person will find different psalms to be more effective for himself. Begin with Have mercy on me, O God (Psalm 50); then Bless the Lord, O my soul (Psalm 102); and Praise the Lord, O my Soul (Psalm 145). These latter two are the antiphon hymns in the Liturgy. There are also the psalms in the Canon for Divine Communion: The Lord is my shepherd (Psalm 22); The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof (Psalm 23); I believed, wherefore I spake (Psalm 115); and the first psalm of the evening vigil, O God, be attentive unto helping me (Psalm 69). There are the psalms of the hours, and the like. Read the Psalter and select.

After you have memorized all of these, you will always be fully armed with prayer. When some disturbing thought occurs, rush to fall down before the Lord with either a short prayer or one of the psalms, especially O God, be attentive unto helping me, and the disturbing cloud will immediately disperse.

There you are; everything on the subject of a prayer rule. I will, however, mention once again that you should remember that all these are aids, and the most important thing is standing before God with the mind in the heart with devotion and heartfelt prostration to Him.

I thought of something else to tell you! You may limit the entire prayer rule just to prostrations with short prayers and prayer in your own words. Stand and make prostrations, saying Lord have mercy, or some other prayer, expressing your need or giving praise and thanks to God. You should establish either a number of prayers, or a time-limit for prayer, or do both, so that you do not become lazy.

This is necessary, because there is a certain incomprehensible peculiarity about us. When, for example, we go about some outward activity, hours pass as if they were a minute. When we stand at prayer, however, hardly have a few minutes gone by, and it seems that we have been praying for an extremely long time. This thought does not cause harm when we perform prayer according to an established rule; but when somebody prays and is just making prostrations with short prayers, it presents a great temptation. This can put a halt to prayer that has barely begun, leaving the false assurance that it has been done properly. Thus, the good practitioners of prayer came up with prayer ropes so that they would not be subject to this self-deception. Prayer ropes are suggested for use by those who desire to pray using their own prayers, not prayers from a prayer book. They are used as follows: Say Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner, and move one bead between your fingers. Repeat the prayer again and move another bead, and so on. Make a prostration during each repetition of the prayer, either a partial one from the waist or a full one to the ground, as you prefer; or, for small beads, make a prostration from the waist, and for large ones, a full one to the ground. The rule in all of this consists in having a definite number of prayer repetitions with prostrations to which are added other prayers in your own words. When deciding on the number of prostrations and prayers, establish a time limit, so that you do not deceive yourself as to haste when you perform them. If haste creeps in, you can fill up the time by making more prostrations.

How many prostrations should be done for each prayer is set down at the end of the Psalter with sequences in two categories, one for diligent people and the other for lazy or busy people. The elders now living among us in sketes or special kellia in places such as Valaam or Solovki serve the entire service according to this. If you would like to, now or some other time, you can perform your own prayer rule in this manner. Before you do this, however, get used to performing it in the manner prescribed for you. Perhaps you will not need a new rule. In any case, I am sending you a prayer rope. Try it! Note how much time you spend at morning and evening prayer, then sit down and say your short prayers with the prayer rope, and see how many times you go around the rope during the time usually required for your prayer. Let this quantity be the measure of your rule. Do this not during your usual prayer time, but at some other time, although do it with the same sort of attentiveness. The prayer rule, then, is carried out in this way, standing and making bows.

After reading this, do not think I am driving you into a monastery. I first heard about praying with a prayer rope from a lay person, not a monk. Many lay people and monastics pray in this way. It should be suitable for you, too. When you are praying with prayers that you have memorized and they do not move you, you may pray that day using the prayer rope, and do the memorized prayers another day. Thus, things will go better.

I will repeat once again that the essence of prayer is the lifting of the mind and heart to God; these little rules are an aid. We cannot get by without them because of our weakness. May the Lord bless you!

Unless....

 The words uttered by St. Thomas in today’s Gospel form a substantial absolute.  His denial is at many levels.  The first level is his lack of belief in the testimony of his 10 closest friends, people with whom he is cloistered for fear of both the Jews and the Romans.  While depending on these 10 friends for his own safety and peace of mind, he denies what they, to a man, explain to him to be their “witness”.  “We have seen Him.  You weren’t here.”  St. Thomas could have responded to their testimony by changing the tone of his response.  “If I were to see then I would believe.”  But that’s NOT his perspective.  His words are clear.  “Unless I see I will NOT believe!”

One of the elements of this account over which I personally ponder is, “Why does the Lord wait for a full week to return and show Himself—yes, to Thomas, but also to His other Apostles?  What is accomplished by this passage of time?

You see, St. Thomas’ rejection of the testimony of his friends is a perspective based on senses.  “Unless I see…”  “Unless I touch…”  “Unless I thrust….”  St. Thomas is basing his faith on his physical nature!  This week of “fasting” from spiritual revelation permits the saint to ponder his connection to the physical, and to come to a realization that he could be wrong in his stubborn perspective.

Our Lord’s waiting for eight more days gives the saint the opportunity to take his intellect from “Unless…” to “Maybe…”

We must take careful note of what transpires when that eighth day comes.  As our Lord once again enters the room, the doors being closed, and He blesses the eleven with the words, Peace be with you!, His first action is to invite (He NEVER coerces!) Thomas, Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.  In response, St. John doesn’t record that Thomas goes and physically completes the touch or the thrust.  Instead, St. John records only the words uttered by St. Thomas: My Lord and my God!  Faith has finally come to the blessed saint as he no doubt (no pun intended) looks back on his obstinance in repentance.  This is in a way Thomas’ restoration to his apostleship no less than Peter’s triple, You know I love You, Lord was for him.

But the Lord wasn’t through.  He leaves the conversation with another blessing, not for His Apostles—they now finally fully believe.  No, the Lord’s blessing is for countless others, hopefully you and me are numbered in that group, as He offers the words, Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

Clearly we who live 2000 years after the fact have not “seen” what those eleven men were blessed to see between our Lord’s Resurrection and His Ascension.

But I submit to all, our eyes have not seen, but surely our hearts have.  Our minds have not seen, but surely our spirits have.  If we do not categorize ourselves with those “who have seen” then why do we come to church?  Why do we seek the Holy Eucharist?  Where is our hope for eternal life?

No, my brothers and sisters in Christ.  Thomas’ “Unless….” has taken from us any need to disbelieve.  It is present in the hymnology of the Church for this festal day, O, how beautiful the unbelief of Thomas!  His lack of belief gives to us the firm footing on knowing the certainty of our Lord’s Resurrection.  And so we can say with full hearts and all conviction:  I BELIEVE!  

CHRIST IS RISEN!

"By Raising Lazarus From the Dead Before Your Passion..."

 These words form the Troparion for both the Liturgy of Lazarus Saturday and also for Palm Sunday, the Lord’s Triumphal Entry Into Jerusalem.  And so we find the week of our Lord’s Passion beginning with as well as ending with resurrection!

Liturgical texts describe the feasts of Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday as “the beginning of the Cross.”  And so it is important for us to understand this joint Feast as it relates to Holy Week.  The words that follow on from the title of this piece say, You confirmed the universal Resurrection, O Christ our God.  As difficult as we find the darkness of Holy Week, the fact remains that the week begins filled with Light, and ends with the most brilliant Light of all time!  The Light of the Resurrection has the ability to dispel every darkness.

On Lazarus Saturday we find something that is peculiar in Orthodox worship.  Saturdays throughout the year are reserved for the commemoration of the departed.  But on this day, the focal point of “the departed” returns!  And so the nature of Saturday’s Divine Liturgy is not on the departed but rather it itself is Resurrectional!  The joy that permeates this Liturgy focuses us beyond the restoration of life to the Lord’s friend.  Jesus shows His authority over death by raising Lazarus.  Those who were witnesses could not deny what had happened before their very eyes.  But there was no frame of reference for that same crowd to project this authority to apply to the Lord’s own life.  We know that is coming, and so we see in Lazarus Saturday the Lord’s ultimate victory not just for Lazarus, not even ‘only’ for Himself, but as the Troparion says, for the universal resurrection—a resurrection of every soul that ever lived, a resurrection that leads to ultimate judgment and the separation of the sheep from the goats.

With Lazarus’ resurrection, death itself and Hades in particular begin to fear their own end.  The final ‘duel’ between Life and death is before us, and in that duel we find the meaning of Pascha. 

One week from Lazarus Saturday, as we stand and sing the hymns of Holy Saturday, we find the first announcements of our Lord’s own Resurrection.  The Stichera on Lord I Call resound with the words, Today Hell cries out groaning…. to begin the Vesperal Liturgy.  And the Holy Saturday Liturgy proceeds with additional announcements of what lay ahead, Arise, O God, judge the earth, for to You belong all the nations.  We stand in prayer as with one voice as we emulate the awe-filled angels of Heaven and sing, Let all mortal flesh keep silent, and in fear and trembling stand, pondering nothing earthly minded, for the King of kings and the Lord of lords comes to be slain, to give Himself as food to the faithful.  We produce in our own minds images of these angels standing before the Cross, marveling how it is that God in the flesh is giving His body over to death!  And in response, we find ourselves in tears standing beside and with these same angels.

Saturday’s raising of Lazarus begins our walk with our Lord to Gethsemane, to the Sanhedrin, to Pilate, to Golgotha, and to the tomb.  May all of our walks in the coming week find us seeking only our Lord’s will, and may He find us to be worthy of seeking to be witnesses of all that He comes to Jerusalem to endure for our salvation.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

We Sold Out

 In today’s Gospel, our Lord gets very matter-of-fact with His Apostles.  St. Mark records that they were amazed.  At this point of the Lord’s ministry, after witnessing so many healings, raisings from the dead, expulsions of demons, what is left that could amaze them?  But even more to the point, St. Mark records not only their perplexity, but he says they were afraid.  When you find yourself standing beside the One Who worked all these miraculous deeds, what could bring you fear?

To understand, perhaps we should again go backward in the scripture a few verses to where we find our Lord in His encounter with the rich young ruler.  What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?  We can imagine that the Apostles had pondered this same question.  In our Lord’s answer, He leads the man to the place where He points to that which has anchored him tightly to this earth, so tightly that consideration of the heavenly isn’t possible.  Sell what you have, give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then take up the cross and follow Me.

When the young man leaves the Lord troubled by His words, the Apostles remain confused.  Who then can be saved?  Do we all see their focus on eternal life even at this juncture? 

It is Peter who speaks for the group.  We have left all and followed You.  He is asking, “Are WE to find a place in heaven?

It is in response to this verbal exchange that the Lord again explains to them what lay ahead—His arrest and execution, but also His Resurrection.

One would think at these words from Jesus the Apostles amazement would be multiplied.  But it is the sons of Zebedee who ignore the implications of the Lord’s prophetic view of the next several days and instead ask boldly for their own places within His kingdom.

Jesus admonishes their selfish request gently, explaining that He as God came not to be served, but to serve, and this is “the way” for any who choose to follow where He has led us as His sheep.

Jesus ends this exchange with these words related to His coming as a Servant, stating finally that He came to give His life a ransom for many.

Ransom.  At first encounter, perhaps we find this a strange word for the Lord to use.  But the Word of God uses words that are in every case selected to be proper to teach us about our salvation.  This is no different!

Ransom—noun.  A price paid or demanded for release of a captive.  That’s us, my friends.  We’re held captive.  We’ve “sold out” via our sins and are held in captivity with no hope for release.

Except for One.  There IS One Hope that we have.  Our Lord’s words in today’s Gospel say that He has come to give His life a ransom for many.  We know that “many” includes only one group—those who choose to follow the commandments of our Savior.  To accept baptism.  To partake in His precious Body and Blood.  To serve the least of His brethren.  To give to the poor.  To heal and visit the sick and imprisoned.  To be reflections of our Savior while we remain in this world.  He came into this world to redeem those of us who have "sold out", to save all who seek Him in faith and love.  By His death and Resurrection, He has paid our ransom in His love for us!

Why Do I Wear a Cross?

 It’s a question that I doubt seriously that many of us ever ask ourselves.  And yet, the answer to the question is central to who we are as a people!

It is uncommon for me to write in the first person, but today we’ll violate our aversion to this, because I’ll speak for myself, and allow others to decide based on my offering how to compare and contrast their own practice.

I have a quite beautiful gold cross—small, on a short gold chain.  I wear it about my neck and against my skin 24/7.  It is on me when I bathe, when I sleep, when I wake, when I drive, when I walk.  The only time I’ve taken it off is when required to do so for medical testing.  No one (except for me) sees this cross.  It is there to remind me that I have been purchased at great price by my Master, who loves me.  It is for me alone.  Showing it to others has no purpose, since I am called by my Master to reflect His love to all who I encounter.  They are to see Him when they see me.  When I am conformed to His will properly, seeing His cross adds very little to an image of the One they should see when they look at me.

On other days, when I am doing my clerical duties as a priest, I DO wear a visible cross.  It serves several purposes.  It does make a statement to those who will notice it that I am a priest, one who is called to be a servant of the Lord.  It can be used as a “blessing Cross” similar to the one that lay upon our Altar to give a blessing to those who approach in faith looking for a blessing.  It is a message to the one wearing it that the first thing he needs to show to those seeing him is humility.  It is NOT an ‘emblem’ saying to others, “Look up to me!”  God forbid!

In the Bulgarian Patriarchate (and in many other Orthodox jurisdictions—but not all), the cross is given to a man at his ordination to the Holy Priesthood for these purposes.  Such a priest is called by his office to present himself at all times publicly in cassock wearing the cross.  An Orthodox priest must get a blessing from his bishop to be seen in public NOT wearing “clerics” as described.  I have such a blessing from His Eminence to dress in secular clothes for my secular job.

If I’m out in public and I am wearing clerics, often the things said to me by people are surprising.  The most repeated one?  “Are you some kind of priest?”  Less often people will smile and simply offer, “Hello, father.”  Too often, the response is, “I like your cross.”  To such people, it isn’t a symbol of our Lord and His call to be a servant, it’s a piece of jewelry.

So you have been given a number of reasons why your priest wears a cross.  But let’s return to the original question—Why do YOU wear a cross?  Why SHOULD you wear a cross?

It’s this later question that’s most important.  First, we should wear a cross to remind us of our Lord’s commandment to His followers, “you must deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Me.” Second, if I am following, I must be reminded to always look for the One Who is leading, and not to stray from Him.

But least of all, I should NOT wear a cross as a ‘show piece’, an ornament. 

There’s a story of a nun who was taken prisoner (I forget if in WWII or in Soviet Russia—the time/place is unimportant) and was stripped of everything that could remind her of her former life in Christ.  That included the cross she wore from her youth until then.  When she was permitted time to walk outdoors, she picked some longer blades of grass.  Alone in her captivity, she wove those blades of grass into the shape of a cross, which she clandestinely kept in her pocket.  So as she would walk, her hand held what was precious to her—her grass cross.  When she was alone, she would take if from her pocket and venerate it.

I submit to you that God’s creation was never more beautifully used by mankind than it was in those simple blades of His grass which connected her with Him in loving prayer, sustaining her through her captivity.

May the crosses we bear upon ourselves, regardless of what they are made of, be that precious to our daily existence.

 

Saints as Intercessors

 We just posted a "Spiritual Alms" piece about the saints who surround us who are ready intercessors for us in times of need.  The list that follows may help you find a saint you may turn to in any particular need.

The following is a list of Saints called upon for special purposes: *

To Have a Child

• St. Anna, Mother of the Theotokos
• St. Elizabeth, Mother of the Forerunner
• St. Sabbas the Sanctified of Palestine
• St. Irene Chrysovolantou

For Safe Childbirth

• St. Eleftherios

For the Care and Protection of Infants

• St. Stylianos

For Young People

• Holy Great Martyr Demetrios the Wonderworker

Delivery from Sudden Death

• St. Barbara the Great Martyr

Against Drinking

• Holy Martyr Boniface and the Righteous Aglais

For Travelers

• St. Nicholas: in general, and specifically for sea travel
• St. John the Russian: for transport, auto, busses
• St. Niphon, Patriarch of Constantinople: for safety at sea

For Cobblers

• St. Eustathius the Cobbler of Georgia

For Physicians

• St. Panteleimon
• The Holy Unmercenaries, Saints Cosmas and Damian

For the Kitchen, Home

• St. Euphrosynos the Cook
• St. Sergius of Radonezh: for baking
• Sts. Spyridon and Nikodim of Kievo-Pechersk: Prosphora making

For Trading

• St. Paraskeva

For Headaches

• Holy New Martyr Demas of Smyrna

For Eyes

• St. Paraskeva

For Ears

• St. Spyridon the Wonderworker

For Teeth

• St. Antipas of Pergamum

For Hernias and Intestinal Disorders

• Holy Great Martyr Artemius
• St. Artemius of Verkola

For Throat

• St. Blaise of Sebastia

For Finding Employment

• St. Xenia of St. Petersburg

For Help in Studies

• The Three Hierarchs:St. Basil the Great, St. John Chrysostom, St. Gregory the Theologian
• St. Sergius of Radonezh
• St. John of Kronstadt
• St. Justin the Philosopher

For Church-Chanting

• St. Romanos the Melodist

For Iconographers

• St. Luke the Apostle and Evangelist
• St. John of Damascus

For Patient Endurance of Affliction

• St. Job the Much-Suffering
• Holy Forty Martyrs of Sebastia: especially in freezing cold weather
• Holy Forty-Two Martyrs of Amorion

For Protection Against Thieves

• St. Gregory the Wonderworker of Kievo-Pechersk

For Stone-workers

• Holy Martyrs Florus and Laurus

For Soldiers

• Holy Archangel Michael
• St. George the Great Martyr
• St. Barbara the Great Martyr
• St. Longinus the Martyr

For Spiritual Help, Consolation and Compunction

• St. Ephraim the Syrian
• St. Alexis the Man of God
• St. Seraphim of Sarov

For a Good End to One’s Life

• Holy Archangel Michael
• St. Niphon, Patriarch of Constantinople

For Captives and Court Cases

• St. Onouphrios the Great
• St. Peter of Athos
• St. George the Great Martyr

For Help in Distress, Poverty, Etc.

• St. Nicholas the Wonderworker
• St. John the Almsgiver of Alexandria
• St. John of Kronstadt

For Finding Things

• St. Phanourios the Great Martyr
• St. Menas the Great Martyr of Egypt

For Meeting a Difficult Situation, an Interview, Etc.

• St. David the Prophet, Psalmist and King
• The Holy Unmercenaries and Healers
• SS. Cosmas and Damian of Rome
• SS. Panteleimon and Hermolaus
• St. Julian the Martyr
• St. John of Kronstadt
• St. Nectarios of Aegina
• Holy Archangel Raphael

For Animals and Livestock

• St. George: cattle and herds
• St. Parthenius of Radovysdius: cattle
• SS. Spevsippus, Elesippus and Melevsippus: horses
• St. Tryphon: geese

For Protection of Crops from Pests

• St. Michael of Synnada

For the Protection of Gardens Against Pests and for Hunters

• Holy Great Martyr Tryphon

Against Demons and Witchcraft

• SS. Cyprian and Justina
• St. Theodore Sykeote
• St. Mitrophan of Voronezh

For Chastity and Help in Carnal Warfare

• St. John the Forerunner
• St. Demetrios the Great Martyr
• St. John the Much-Suffering
• Holy Martyr Theodore the Byzantine
• Holy Martyr Ignatios of Athos
• St. Mary of Egypt
• St. Joseph the All-Comely
• St. Susanna [Old Testament]

For Mental Disorders

• St. Naum of Ochrid
• St. Anastasia
• St. Gerasimos of Cephalonia: the possessed

Against Plague

• St. Haralambos
• St. Marina the Great Martyr

For Help Against Quick-Temper and Despondency

• St. Tikhon of Zadonsk

For Workers in Hospitals

• Holy Unmercenaries Saints Cosmas and Damian
• St. Dositheus, Disciple of Abba Dorotheus

For Guilelessness and Simplicity

• Holy Apostle Nathaniel and St. Paul the Simple

* Reprinted from Orthodox Family Life. Volume 3, Issue 3. Spring 1998