http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/weblog.php Fr. Costa Christo en-us Tue, 12 Apr 2011 13:59:15 GMT Tue, 12 Apr 2011 13:59:15 GMT webmaster@holytrinitywilmington.org webmaster@holytrinitywilmington.org pMachine 2.4 http://backend.userland.com/rss http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/weblog.php Fr. Costa Christo http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=518_0_1_0_C Would you like me to list also the paths of repentance? They are numerous and quite varied, and all lead to heaven. A first path of repentance is the condemnation of your own sins: Be the first to admit your sins and you will be justified. For this reason, too, the prophet wrote: I said: I will accuse myself of my sins to the Lord, and you forgave the wickedness of my heart. Therefore, you too should condemn your own sins; that will be enough reason for the Lord to forgive you, for a man who condemns his own sins is slower to commit them again. Rouse your conscience to accuse you within your own house, lest it become your accuser before the judgment seat of the Lord. That, then, is one very good path of repentance. Another and no less valuable one is to put out of our minds the harm done us by our enemies, in order to master our anger, and to forgive our fellow servants' sins against us. Then our own sins against the Lord will be forgiven us. Thus you have another way to atone for sin: For if you forgive your debtors, your heavenly Father will forgive you. Do you want to know of a third path? It consists of prayer that is fervent, careful and comes from the heart. If you want to hear of a fourth, I will mention almsgiving, whose power is great and far-reaching. If, moreover, a man lives a modest, humble life, that, no less than the other things I have mentioned, takes sin away. Proof of this is the tax-collector who had no good deeds to mention, but offered his humility instead and was relieved of a heavy burden of sins. Thus I have shown you five paths of repentance; condemnation of your own sins, forgiveness of our neighbor's sins against us, prayer, almsgiving and humility. Do not be idle, then, but walk daily in all these paths; they are easy, and you cannot plead your poverty. For, though you live out your life amid great need, you can always set aside your wrath, be humble, pray diligently and condemn your own sins; poverty is no hindrance. Poverty is not an obstacle to our carrying out the Lord's bidding, even when it comes to that path of repentance which involves giving money (almsgiving, I mean). The widow proved that when she put her two mites into the box! Now that we have learned how to heal these wounds of ours, let us apply the cures. Then, when we have regained genuine health, we can approach the holy table with confidence, go gloriously to meet Christ, the king of glory, and attain the eternal blessings through the grace, mercy and kindness of Jesus Christ, our Lord. http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=518_0_1_0_C Tue, 12 Apr 2011 13:56:15 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=517_0_1_0_C [An excerpt taken from Fr. Gus G. Christo’s book: "Martyrdom According to John Chrysostom: To Live is Christ, To Die is Gain" (ISBN10: 0-7734-2290-0 ISBN13: 978-0-7734-2290-2)] The relics of saints belong to the very fabric of the divine beliefs, tradition, liturgical practice and scripture of the early Church -- the One, Holy, Catholic (Universal) and Apostolic Church of Christ, God. The term "relics" refers to the physical remains of a saint (martyr) after his/her death ("first class relics"), as well as to the sacred objects that have been in contact with his body ("second class relics"). For our purposes here, relics shall mean bone fragments from a saint's body. Since God takes the martyrs' souls and gives mankind their relics until the final Resurrection of the Dead, relics are treasures that contain innumerable goods for human beings to harvest. They are symbols of Christ's bodily and perfect Resurrection, of the future age and of the unwaning day of the Kingdom. They serve as means of transforming corrupt human nature into the image and likeness of Christ. How does God sanctify saints' relics? The grace and holiness of the Spirit of God moves from the martyrs' souls to their bodies and then to their clothing. From their clothing it spreads to their shoes and, finally, it moves into the very shadows they cast. For example, the shadow of St. Peter the Apostle, once it passed over a human corpse, raised the deceased back to life. The veneration of relics by the faithful stemmed from the martyrs' imitation of Christ's baptism in death, suffering and sacrifice, and their subsequent emigration into heaven, call to a better and more spiritual life, change from corruptibility to incorruptibility, and spiritual wedding to Christ the Master. Resulting from a martyrdom by death, or a baptism in blood, a martyr became a channel for the power of God and an intercessor between God and human beings. The martyr's holy relics served as the visible and concrete manifestation of all this to the early Church. Holy relics, adorned with the stigmata of Christ, become vehicles revealing God's power and love toward mankind in several ways. First, they thwart the devil's attack upon Christians and endlessly wound him, as they remind him of Christ's saving death and resurrection that the holy martyrs imitated. Hence, Chrysostom states in the Homily on St. Julian the Martyr: “Take someone who is possessed by a demon and by madness, and bring him to this holy tomb (St. Julian’s tomb), there where the bones of the martyr are resting, and you will see him (the demon) jump and leave (out of the one possessed).” Second, the relics impart great benefits to the Christians who honor them at special shrines and seek the assistance of the martyrs to whom they belong. The benefits given include: God's compassion and forgiveness of any sin committed, restoration of physical and mental health to the ill and preservation of the healthy, great boldness before God, instruction about Christ's Gospel, leadership towards virtue (or excellence), and, cleansing from the unclean spirits that are exorcised. Even the dead may be brought back to life. Third, martyrs' relics function as Altars for the celebration of the Divine Liturgy, and thus grant great benefits to the faithful throughout Salvation History. For, they are imbued with invisible power, dominion and the grace of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, the power of the relics of the glorified saints in heaven is the nobility of the Christians and the crown of the Church. Therefore, unlike material treasures, relics are neither diminished nor dangerous when divided. Since they are spiritual things, they increase in value when they are partitioned and multiply when they are divided. Furthermore, someone who has venerated a saint's relics is readily recognized by his countenance, form, gait, feeling of piety and devotion, and by the collection of his thoughts. He feels all-fiery, shy, humble, sober and lively. The movements of his body and the proclamation of his philosophy distinguish him as someone who paid such homage. Scripture proves this point when it remarks: "A man's attire, grinning laughter and gait show what he is" (Wisdom of Solomon 19:30). The locations where the relics of God's saints have been deposited are according solely to God's providence. God selects the location for the deposition of a saint's relics with the specific purpose of edifying the people with the truth and power of the Gospel, which is clearly revealed by the saint's triumph over his executioners. At these locations or shrines He guides the pilgrim to exhibit the same zeal for the faith as the martyr who presently resides in heaven. The pilgrim's acceptance of this guidance gives God the opportunity to prepare a safe harbor for him and provide comfort for his misfortunes. The shrines become sites of refreshment and renewal as the pilgrim's consciousness is unburdened and his perspective relating to his salvation is recaptured and secured. The pilgrim then leaves the shrine as an "ensouled" and "spiritual shrine" because the saint and his achievements dwell within his thoughts and heart. [This entry is in honor of the one year anniversary of the placement at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church of Wilmington, Delaware, by Fr. Gus G. Christo, of the Holy Relics of the Apostles Among the Twelve James the son of Zebedee, Simon the Zealot, and Matthias; the Apostle Among the Seventy Timothy; and of St. George the Great Martyr.] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=517_0_1_0_C Tue, 05 Apr 2011 16:12:28 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=516_0_1_0_C “Our bodies, when united to Christ's Body, gain a beginning of immortality, because they are united to Immortality.” [St. Gregory of Nyssa] <a href="http://www.theworkofgod.org/Devotns/Euchrist/Topics/teachings.asp?key=592" >http://www.theworkofgod.org/Devotns/Euchrist/Topics/teachings.asp?key=592</a> http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=516_0_1_0_C Tue, 29 Mar 2011 22:11:23 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=515_0_1_0_C The manger and the cross are not far removed. We tend to picture the Nativity as a pastorally-pleasing, sweet scene with admiring parents and grateful shepherds. We tend to view Golgotha as a horrid, ugly hill surrounded by hate-filled rejectors of the glorious majesty of God. Of course, truth exists in both these images, but often we fail to recognize that the Cross was planted in Bethlehem. A Savior was born that day to die for our sins–the shadow of the Cross falls over the baby Jesus as he rests in the manger. Our kinsman redeemer, our sin-bearer, our ransom, our sacrificial Lamb was born that day in Bethlehem. The Cross and the manger meet in Bethlehem – Jesus is born to die for your sins and mine. God’s compassion for us is all the more wonderful because Christ died not for the righteous or the holy but for the wicked and the sinful, and, though the divine nature could not be touched by the sting of death, he took to himself, through his birth as one of us, something he could offer on our behalf. <a href="http://www.canonglenn.com/tag/early-church-father/" >http://www.canonglenn.com/tag/early-church-father/</a> http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=515_0_1_0_C Tue, 22 Mar 2011 18:52:49 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=514_0_1_0_C How precious the gift of the cross, how splendid to contemplate! In the cross there is no mingling of good and evil, as in the tree of paradise: it is wholly beautiful to behold and good to taste. The fruit of this tree is not death but life, not darkness but light. This tree does not cast us out of paradise, but opens the way for our return. This was the tree on which Christ, like a king on a chariot, destroyed the devil, the lord of death, and freed the human race from his tyranny. This was the tree upon which the Lord like a brave warrior wounded in hands, feet and side, healed the wounds of sin that the evil serpent had inflicted on our nature. A tree once caused our death, but now a tree brings life. Once deceived by a tree, we have now repelled the cunning serpent by a tree. What an astonishing transformation! That death should become life, that decay should become immortality, that shame should become glory! Well might the holy Apostle exclaim: Far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world! The supreme wisdom that flowered on the cross has shown the folly of worldly wisdom's pride. The knowledge of all good, which is the fruit of the cross, has cut away the shoots of wickedness. The wonders accomplished through this tree were foreshadowed clearly even by the mere types and figures that existed in the past. Meditate on these, if you are eager to learn. Was it not the wood of a tree that enabled Noah, at God's command, to escape the destruction of the flood together with his sons, his wife, his sons' wives and every kind of animal? And surely the rod of Moses prefigured the cross when it changed water into blood, swallowed up the false serpents of Pharaoh's magicians, divided the sea at one stroke and then restored the waters to their normal course, drowning the enemy and saving God's own people? Aaron's rod, which blossomed in one day in proof of his true priesthood, was another figure of the cross, and did not Abraham foreshadow the cross when he bound his son Isaac and placed him on the pile of wood? By the cross death was slain and Adam was restored to life. The cross is the glory of all the apostles, the crown of the martyrs, the sanctification of the saints. By the cross we put on Christ and cast aside our former self. By the cross we, the sheep of Christ, have been gathered into one flock, destined for the sheepfold of heaven. From a sermon by Theodore the Studite, 9th century <a href="http://www.rc.net/wcc/cross12.htm" >http://www.rc.net/wcc/cross12.htm</a> http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=514_0_1_0_C Tue, 15 Mar 2011 21:52:29 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=513_0_1_0_C The following extracts are taken from St Gregory Palamas' longer work, The New Testament Decalogue: 'You shall not make an image of anything in the heavens above, or in the earth below, or in the sea' (cf. Exodus 20.4), in such a way that you worship these things and glorify them as gods. For all are the creations of the one God, created by Him in the Holy Spirit through His Son and Logos, who as Logos of God in these latter times took flesh from a virgin's womb, appeared on earth and associated with men, and who for the salvation of men suffered, died and rose again, ascended with His body into the heavens, and 'sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High' (Hebrews 1.3), and who will come again with His body to judge the living and the dead. Out of love for Him you should make, therefore, an icon of Him who became man for our sakes, and through His icon you should bring Him to mind and worship Him, elevating your intellect through it to the venerable body of the Saviour, that is set on the right hand of the Father in heaven. In like manner you should also make icons of the saints and venerate them, not as gods --for this is forbidden-- but because of the attachment, inner affection and sense of surpassing honour that you feel for the saints when by means of their icons the intellect is raised up to them. It was in this spirit that Moses made icons of the Cherubim within the Holy of Holies (cf. Exodus 25.18). The Holy of Holies itself was an image of things supercelestial (cf. Exodus 25.40; Hebrews 8.5), while the Holy Place was an image of the entire world. Moses called these things holy, not glorifying what is created, but through it glorifying God the Creator of the world. You must not, then, deify the icons of Christ and of the saints, but through them you should venerate Him who originally created us in His own image, and who subsequently consented in His ineffable compassion to assume the human image and to be circumscribed by it. You should venerate not only the icon of Christ, but also the similitude of His cross. For the cross is Christ's great sign and trophy of victory over the devil and all his hostile hosts; for this reason they tremble and flee when they see the figuration of the cross. This figure, even prior to the crucifixion, was greatly glorified by the prophets and wrought great wonders; and when He who was hung upon it, our Lord Jesus Christ, comes again to judge the living and the dead, this His great and terrible sign will precede Him, full of power and glory (cf. Matthew 24.30). So glorify the cross now, so that you may boldly look upon it then and be glorified with it. And you should venerate icons of the saints, for the saints have been crucified with the Lord; and you should make the sign of the cross upon your person before doing so, bringing to mind their communion in the sufferings of Christ. In the same way you should venerate their holy shrines and any relic of their bones; for God's grace is not sundered from these things, even as the divinity was not sundered from Christ's venerable body at the time of His life-quickening death. By doing this and by glorifying those who glorified God --for through their actions they showed themselves to be perfect in their love for God-- you too will be glorified together with them by God, and with David you will chant: 'I have held Thy friends in high honour, O Lord' (Psalm 139.17 LXX). <a href="http://monachos.net/content/patristics/patristictexts/160-palamas-on-icons" >http://monachos.net/content/patristics/patristictexts/160-palamas-on-icons</a> http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=513_0_1_0_C Tue, 08 Mar 2011 16:51:32 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=512_0_1_0_C “On this day we commemorate the fall of Adam the first-created from partaking of the fruit of Paradise, which our holy and divine Fathers have appointed for the Sunday before Great Lent in order to demonstrate the great healing effect of the fast upon human nature and the great harm of intemperance and disobedience. Setting aside the countless instances of these vices in the world, the Fathers have put forth a vivid example in first-created Adam, who suffered great harm in his total failure to fast and brought this harm upon our nature. He did not keep the first commandment of a beneficial fast which God had required of mankind, but yielding to the desires of his belly and of the serpent through Eve, he not only did not become godlike, but he gave rise to death, bringing perdition upon all our race. For the sake of Adam's intemperance the Lord fasted for forty days and was obedient. It was for this reason that the holy Apostles conceived this present forty-day fast, so that as Adam forfeited incorruption through his intemperance, we may regain it through abstinence. Also, as was stated earlier, it was the intent of the Holy Fathers through the Triodion to relate in a condensed form all of God's acts from the beginning to the end of the world. Since Adam's transgression and fall through the eating of the fruit of the tree is the principal cause of the state of mankind, the Fathers exhort us who are observing this commemoration to avoid Adam's sin and to shun intemperance in all things. Now it was on the sixth day that Adam was created by the hand of God after His own image and through His life-giving breath. Receiving God's commandment, he lived in Paradise up until the sixth hour, when he disobeyed God's command and was driven out. And as he stretched out his hand at the sixth hour to touch the fruit, so the new Adam, Christ, at the sixth day and hour stretched out his hands upon the Cross, annulling the sentence of perdition brought about by the former Adam. For he was created in the midst of corruption and incorruption through providence with the freedom of choice. God could have made Adam sinless, yet His providence was to provide for reparation. For this cause He gave His commandment that Adam might partake of all in the garden, save the one tree. Does this not mean that Adam was meant to understand the essence of all created by the divine power, but was not to attempt to understand the essence of the Godhead; That is to say God commanded Adam to concern himself will all other elements and qualities, reasoning with his mind to the glory of God; for this is true nourishment. But he was not to search for the divine essence: God, who He is, where He is and how He brought all things into being out of nothingness. Yet to his own harm Adam, having no care for the other things, sought to examine God and to determine His essence; and since he was not perfect but still a simple child, he failed in his undertaking, when through Eve Satan planted in him the desire of becoming Godlike. Some say that the tree of disobedience was a fig tree, and becoming aware of their nakedness, Adam and Eve used its leaves to cover themselves. For this reason Christ cursed the fig tree as the cause of that disobedience, attributing to it a sort of resemblance to sin. For having transgressed becoming clothed in mortal flesh and receiving the curse, Adam was driven from Paradise. And at God's command a flaming sword guarded its gates. Adam sat before the gates of Paradise and lamented the many blessings he had lost in his failure to observe a timely fast. And through him the entire race shared in that sentence, until our Creator, taking pity on our nature which because of Satan was perishing, was born of the Holy Virgin and lived an exceptional life, showing us the path away from the devil, that is abstinence and humility, and valiantly gaining the victory over the deceiver, returned us to our former state. In their desire to lay all these events before us, the God-bearing fathers have begun with the Old Testament: the creation of the world, the fall of Adam through the eating of the fruit, which we commemorate today, and later on the words of Moses and the prophets and the poetry of David, which impart grace. Afterwards in order the events of the New Testament, of which the first is the Annunciation, which always occurs during Lent through God's ineffable providence, the raising of Lazarus, Palm Sunday, the reading of the sacred Gospels during Holy Week, and the profound texts of the holy and saving Passion of Christ. After this the Resurrection and the rest up to the descent of the Holy Spirit read in the book of Acts, how this event became a proclamation that assembled all the saints together, for in the book of Aces the Resurrection is confirmed through signs and wonders. Since we have so suffered from Adam's failure to keep the fast, this event is commemorated today at the beginning of Great Lent, so that keeping in mind the enormous evil brought about by Adam's intemperance, we may make joyful haste to accept and keep the fast. And as Adam sinned in his desire to become godlike, we may thereby receive godliness through fasting, tears and humility until God visits us; for without these it is impossible to regain that which we have lost. It should be also noted that the holy forty-day fast is the tenth part of the entire year. Since out of indolence we are not willing to fast constantly or to rid ourselves of evil habits, the Apostles and divine Fathers have passed down the Fast to us as a sort of first offering of the harvest of our lives. And as we have acted inappropriately for the entire year, we may now cleanse our souls through fasting, contrition and humility. We should keep the Great Fast with the utmost care. For as there are four seasons in the year, so there are four fasts. Yet the divine Apostles have entrusted Lent to us as the greatest of the fasts, since it honors the Holy Passion of Christ, His fast and His glorification. Moses also fasted forty days before he received the Law, also Elijah, Daniel and all who found favor in God's sight. Adam illustrates for us the benefit of the fast as opposed to intemperance. For this reason Adam's banishment from Paradise was appointed by the Holy Fathers to be commemorated on this day." Translated from Triodion, siest' Tripesnets: Triod' Postnaya, Moscow, 1904, by Robert Parent. <a href="http://www.holy-trinity.org/liturgics/synaxarion/4-cheesefaresunday.html" >http://www.holy-trinity.org/liturgics/synaxarion/4-cheesefaresunday.html</a> http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=512_0_1_0_C Tue, 01 Mar 2011 17:14:29 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=511_0_1_0_C “Fasting is a medicine. But medicine, as beneficial as it is, becomes useless because of the inexperience of the user. He has to know the appropriate time that the medicine should be taken and the right amount of medicine and the condition of the body which is to take it, the weather conditions and the season of the year and the appropriate diet of the sick and many other things. If any of these things are overlooked, the medicine will do more harm than good. So, if one who is going to heal the body needs so much accuracy, when we care for the soul and are concerned about healing it from bad thoughts, it is necessary to examine and observe everything with every possible detail. Fasting is the change of every part of our life, because the sacrifice of the fast is not the abstinence but the distancing from sins. Therefore, whoever limits the fast to the deprivation of food, he is the one who, in reality, abhors and ridicules the fast. Are you fasting? Show me your fast with your works. Which works? If you see someone who is poor, show him mercy. If you see an enemy, reconcile with him. If you see a friend who is becoming successful, do not be jealous of him! If you see a beautiful woman on the street, pass her by. In other words, not only should the mouth fast, but the eyes and the legs and the arms and all the other parts of the body should fast as well. Let the hands fast, remaining clean from stealing and greediness. Let the legs fast, avoiding roads which lead to sinful sights. Let the eyes fast by not fixing themselves on beautiful faces and by not observing the beauty of others. You are not eating meat, are you? You should not eat debauchery with your eyes as well. Let your hearing also fast. The fast of hearing is not to accept bad talk against others and sly defamations. Let the mouth fast from disgraceful and abusive words, because, what gain is there when, on the one hand we avoid eating chicken and fish and, on the other, we chew-up and consume our brothers? He who condemns and blasphemes is as if he has eaten brotherly meat, as if he has bitten into the flesh of his fellow man. It is because of this that Paul frightened us, saying: "If you chew up and consume one another be careful that you do not annihilate yourselves." You did not thrust your teeth into the flesh (of your neighbor) but you thrusted bad talk in his soul; you wounded it by spreading disfame, causing unestimatable damage both to yourself, to him, and to many others. If you cannot go without eating all day because of an ailment of the body, beloved one, no logical man will be able to criticize you for that. Besides, we have a Lord who is meek and loving (philanthropic) and who does not ask for anything beyond our power. Because he neither requires the abstinence from foods, neither that the fast take place for the simple sake of fasting, neither is its aim that we remain with empty stomachs, but that we fast to offer our entire selves to the dedication of spiritual things, having distanced ourselves from secular things. If we regulated our life with a sober mind and directed all of our interest toward spiritual things, and if we ate as much as we needed to satisfy our necessary needs and offered our entire lives to good works, we would not have any need of the help rendered by the fast. But because human nature is indifferent and gives itself over mostly to comforts and gratifications, for this reason the philanthropic Lord, like a loving and caring father, devised the therapy of the fast for us, so that our gratifications would be completely stopped and that our worldly cares be transferred to spiritual works. So, if there are some who have gathered here and who are hindered by somatic ailments and cannot remain without food, I advise them to nullify the somatic ailment and not to deprive themselves from this spiritual teaching, but to care for it even more. For there exist, there really exist, ways which are even more important than abstinence from food which can open the gates which lead to God with boldness. He, therefore, who eats and cannot fast, let him display richer almsgiving, let him pray more, let him have a more intense desire to hear divine words. In this, our somatic illness is not a hindrance. Let him become reconciled with his enemies, let him distance from his soul every resentment. If he wants to accomplish these things, then he has done the true fast, which is what the Lord asks of us more than anything else. It is for this reason that he asks us to abstain from food, in order to place the flesh in subjection to the fulfillment of his commandments, whereby curbing its impetuousness. But if we are not about to offer to ourselves the help rendered by the fast because of bodily illness and at the same time display greater indifference, we will see ourselves in an unusual exaggerated way. For if the fast does not help us when all the aforementioned accomplishments are missing so much is the case when we display greater indifference because we cannot even use the medicine of fasting. Since you have learned these things from us, I pardon you, those who can, fast and you yourselves increase your acuteness and praiseworthy desire as much as possible. To the brothers, though, who cannot fast because of bodily illness, encourage them not to abandon this spiritual word, teaching them and passing on to them all the things we say here, showing them that he who eats and drinks with moderation is not unworthy to hear these things but he who is indifferent and slack. You should tell them the bold and daring saying that "he who eats for the glory of the Lord eats and he who does not eat for the glory of the Lord does not eat and pleases God." For he who fasts pleases God because he has the strength to endure the fatigue of the fast and he that eats also pleases God because nothing of this sort can harm the salvation of his soul, as long as he does not want it to. Because our philanthropic God showed us so many ways by which we can, if we desire, take part in God's power that it is impossible to mention them all. We have said enough about those who are missing, being that we want to eliminate them from the excuse of shame. For they should not be ashamed because food does not bring on shame but the act of some wrongdoing. Sin is a great shame. If we commit it not only should we feel ashamed but we should cover ourselves exactly the same way those who are wounded do. Even then we should not forsake ourselves but rush to confession and thanksgiving. We have such a Lord who asks nothing of us but to confess our sins, after the commitment of a sin which was due to our indifference, and to stop at that point and not to fall into the same one again. If we eat with moderation we should never be ashamed, because the Creator gave us such a body which cannot be supported in any other way except by receiving food. Let us only stop excessive food because that attributes a great deal to the health and well-being of the body. Let us therefore in every way cast off every destructive madness so that we may gain the goods which have been promised to us in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Father and the Holy Spirit. Amen.” [http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles4/ChrysostomFasting.php] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=511_0_1_0_C Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:18:37 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=510_0_1_0_C “The Sunday of the Last Judgment or Meat Fare Sunday is the third Sunday using the Lenten Triodion, the liturgical book used in the services of Great Lent. It is the Sunday after the Sunday of the Prodigal Son and Sunday before Forgiveness Sunday. This is the third week of the pre-Lenten start of the Paschal cycle of worship in the Orthodox Church. This Sunday is called Meat Fare Sunday since it is traditionally the last day before Pascha for eating meat. Orthodox Christians observe a fast from meat all week, but still eat dairy products and eggs till the start of Great Lent. The Gospel reading this Sunday remembers Christ's parable of the Last Judgment (Matthew 25:31-46). This adds to the previous pre-Lenten Sundays and teaches that it is not enough to see Jesus, to see ourselves as we are, and to come home to God as his prodigal sons. The Church teaches that, in addition, one must also be God’s sons by following Christ, his only-begotten divine Son, and by seeing Christ in everyone and by serving Christ through them. Salvation and final judgment will depend upon deeds, not merely on intentions or even on the mercies of God apart from personal cooperation and obedience. All piety and prayer is ultimately directed towards the goal of serving Christ through his people. From the reading, the faithful hear: ‘… for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you took me in, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and in prison and you visited me. …. For truly I say to you, if you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me’ (Matthew 25 ).” [http://orthodoxwiki.org/Sunday_of_the_Last_Judgment] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=510_0_1_0_C Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:16:54 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=509_0_1_0_C Saint Clement of Alexandria (c.150-c.215) “Fasting is abstention from foods according to the meaning of the word, but the food does not make us either more just or more unjust. Yet, in its mystical meaning it declares that as the life of each one depends upon food, total abstention is the sign of death. Thus we ought to abstain from worldly things, for we would die as far as worldly matters are concerned, and after that, when we partake of food of divine nature, we will live in God. Above all, total abstention empties the soul of matter, and presents the soul pure and nimble to the body according to the divine words. Then, on the one hand, worldly nourishment consists of temporal life and iniquities, while divine nourishment is faith, hope, love, patience, knowledge, peace, prudence as our Lord said in Matthew: ‘Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled’ (5:6), where truly He attributes this longing to the soul and not to the body.” Saint Isidore (360 AD) “Fasting in respect of food is of no benefit for those who fail to fast with all their senses; for whosoever is successfully waging his battle must be temperate in all things.” Saint John Chrysostom (345-407) St. John Chrysostom (345-407) said that the purpose of fasting is to prepare for partaking of the Holy Eucharist and for the Christian solemn celebrations. Chrysostom taught many times that fasting is not merely the abstention from certain foods, but mainly an abstention from evil doings. Chrysostom also warns against hypocritical fasting: “It is possible for one who fasts not to be rewarded for his fasting. How? when indeed we abstain from foods, but do not abstain from iniquities - when we do not eat meat, but gnaw to pieces the homes of the poor - when we do not become drunkards with wine, but we become drunkards with evil pleasures; when we abstain all the day, but all the night we spend in unchastened shows. Then what is the benefit of abstention from foods, when on the one hand you deprive your body of a selected food, but on the other offer yourself unlawful food?” http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=509_0_1_0_C Tue, 15 Feb 2011 15:58:49 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=508_0_1_0_C This parable adds to the two previous parables about God's grace, showing that a man's humble recognition of his own depravity is more important to God than the mock virtues of the proud. "Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in a week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted" (Lk. 18:9-14). It is quite likely that the Pharisee depicted in this parable was not a bad man; he did no harm to anyone. The parable does not say, however, that he has done any real good works; rather, he strictly follows the various, minute, secondary religious rites, even those of them which were not required by the Old Testament laws. Following these rites, he had no mean opinion of himself. He fits this expression of St. John Chrysostom, "He judged the whole world but justified himself!" People of this disposition are unable to evaluate themselves critically, repent and start a good life. Their moral self is dead. More than once, the Lord Jesus Christ publicly castigated the hypocrisy of Judaic scribes and Pharisees, but in this parable Christ only remarks that it was the tax collector who ‘went down to his house justified rather than the other’; in other words, it was the tax collector's sincere repentance that was accepted by God. This parable lets us understand that a human being is fallen and sinful. A human has nothing to boast of before God. But with sincere repentance he must come back to his Heavenly Father and expose his life to the leadership of God’s grace, like the lost sheep who passed the work of its salvation to the good shepherd! <a href="http://www.orthodoxphotos.com/readings/parables/publican.shtml" >http://www.orthodoxphotos.com/readings/parables/publican.shtml</a> http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=508_0_1_0_C Fri, 04 Feb 2011 15:14:04 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=507_0_1_0_C 1. If the Spirit is indeed simple, but proceeds from the Father and the Son, these two would certainly be considered one hypostasis, and there would be introduced here a Sabellian fusion, or better to say, a semi-Sabellian fusion. 2. If indeed the Holy Spirit does proceed from the Father and the Son, He would be altogether double and composite. If the Holy Spirit is ascribed to two principles, where will the much-hymned monarchy be? 3. If the Father and the Son both originate the Spirit, the Father will be both the direct and indirect originator of the Spirit on account of His proceeding also from the Son. 4. Certainly, if the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father is perfect, then that from the Son is superfluous. 5. If the Son has the property of originating the Spirit like the Father, the property of origination will be common to both. But how will the property be shared in common? If by opposition, will not one destroy the other? For contraries are destructive of one another. If by divergence, then part of the Spirit will proceed in one way and part in another, and He will be composed of unequal parts. 6. If, indeed, both the Son and the Spirit have come forth from one cause, namely the Father, and the Son again originates the Spirit, then the Spirit should also originate the Son. For the Father and Originator brought forth both with equal honour. 7. If, indeed, the Son does share with the Father in originating the Holy Spirit, then the Holy Spirit will also share in it, for all that the Father has in common with the Son, He also has in common with the Holy Spirit. Hence He will be at the same time cause and caused, which thing is more monstrous than the fables of the [pagan] Greeks. 8. If the Son has the power of origination, but the Spirit is denied it, He is inferior in power to the Son, which was the insanity of Macedonius. 9. They allege as an excuse, however, that Ambrose wrote thus in his treatises concerning the subject, as did also Augustine and Jerome. One must say in defence of these men that perhaps the Pneumatomachians corrupted their writings, or perhaps they spoke according to the tactics used by the great Basil, who for a time refrained from preaching the divinity of the All-Holy Spirit, or perhaps they, since they were only human, had been led astray from sound theology; for many great men, like Dionysius of Alexandria, Methodius of Patara and Pierios, Pamphilius, Theognostus, and Irenaeus of Lyons with his disciple Hippolytus, have suffered so in certain things. For we do not accept some of their statements though we greatly admire the rest. 10. So Ambrose, Augustine, and Jerome, said what the Latins claim; but the hierarchs of the Seven Synods did not. All the synods in succession confirmed the definition of our faith. The leaders and lights of the Church of Old Rome agreed with them without any contradiction and decreed that it was not permitted to add or subtract anything from the aforesaid definition of the faith, and that he who dared to do so should absolutely be cast out of the Church. 11. Divine Gregory the Dialogist, who flourished not long after the Sixth Synod, preached and wrote in Latin that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father alone. Zacharias, 165 years later, translated the Dialogues into Greek and said, the Paraclete Spirit, proceeds from the Father and abides in the Son; for he had been taught this by the Forerunner, who saw the Spirit descending like a dove and abiding upon Him. 12. Leo and Benedict, great hierarchs of Old Rome in later times, decreed that the Symbol of Faith be recited in Greek at the mystical rites in Old Rome and in the other churches subject to her, lest the inadequacy of Latin furnish an occasion for blasphemy. This Leo, when he had opened the treasury of the Apostolic Church of Old Rome, brought forth two shields which had been preserved among the other sacred heirlooms and which were engraved with the pious exposition of the Faith in Greek letters and words [St Photius was mistaken; the words were engraved in Greek and Latin], and which he ordered to be read before all the people of Old Rome. Up to the time of the pious patriarch of New Rome Sergius, the hierarchs of Old Rome sent confirmatory letters of their belief at the beginning of their high priesthood to all the patriarchal sees, and in these letters they inscribed the Symbol of Faith without any variation. 13. But what need is there to say much? The Son and Master reveals that the Spirit proceeds from the Father; and likewise the great Paul declares, saying, But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other Gospel unto you other than that which we have preached unto you, let him be anathema. And who will ask for another teacher unless he be plainly insane? From another portion of the same work from a different manuscript: 9. When David said, By the Spirit of His mouth, he taught also that the Spirit proceeds from the Father alone, since he applies the phrase of His mouth to the Father, not to the Son, in order that he might destroy by anticipation the blasphemy of those who hold the Spirit proceeds also from the Son. 10. In all other cases, procession denotes simple egress, as when it is said in the Psalms, He went forth and spoke in a like manner. [Psalm 40:6] But the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father does not signify simply egress, which is accidental, coming to pass and then ceasing, but it is an essential and natural procession, signifying the mode of being and declaring the subsistence of the Holy Spirit, Who is not by generation, as is the Son, but by procession, in His own proper manner. For the characteristic property of the Son is to be begotten by nature from the Father, but the characteristic property of the Holy Spirit is to proceed by nature from the Father. They differ from each other only thus, namely, in the characteristic property of subsistence, while in other respects they are one in essence, in nature, in dignity, in power, and, to put it simply, one in everything else, both with the Father and with each other. How then do you say the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and from the Son? If as cause, then there are two causes and two principles (Father and Son), and you are advocating a dyarchy rather than a monarchy; but it is not our task to speak about the many absurdities following from this belief. However, if the Spirit proceeds in another way, as if from the mutual linking by reason of their reciprocal indwelling and interchange of the other properties, and, to speak simply, proceeds as if being sent, then you are sound in your understanding. For just as the Father sends the Son, so does the Son send the Spirit. The Son says, But when the Paraclete is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, the Spirit of truth which proceeds from the Father, He shall witness of Me. Nevertheless, you err in another respect: first, in changing and falsifying through this addition the exposition of faith confirmed by the Seven Synods -- and no one but you has done it! -- and secondly, that which you interpolate between the two phrases and which we are accustomed to call a conjunction, implies the meaning of equal procession from both the Father and the Son, even though you might understand the procession from the Son in another way, just as we said above. One ought, however, not only to think correctly, but also not to scandalise others. For if he who gives scandal to one person has been judged worthy of a fearful punishment, according to the Gospels, what punishment will they deserve who have scandalised almost the entire world? 11. When God the Son was speaking concerning the Holy Spirit, He said not once, but twice in the course of the same speech that the Holy Spirit is from the Father. Why did He not say, and from Me? Our opponents reply that he was speaking humbly as a man; but we, answering quickly, convict them at once of a lie. The words, Whom I will send unto you, were not spoken as man, but rather as God; for a man does not send God, if the Holy Spirit is indeed God. Therefore, twice He said from the Father in order to confirm such a sublime utterance and to stop the mouths of those who in the future would say that the Spirit proceeds from the Son. This argument was propounded by the acumen of the very wise emperor, for he used it when he disputed with the bishop of Milan. [A note in the Latin text indicates the emperor was Alexius Comnenos and the bishop of Milan was Peter, the year 1116.] Feast Day of Patriarch Photios: Sunday, February 6 <a href="http://www.unexpectedjoy.org/Confessions/06Filioque/0867-EncylicalPhotius.html" >http://www.unexpectedjoy.org/Confessions/06Filioque/0867-EncylicalPhotius.html</a> http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=507_0_1_0_C Tue, 01 Feb 2011 14:27:40 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=506_0_1_0_C “This common feast of these three teachers was instituted a little before the year 1100, during the reign of the Emperor Alexis I Comnenus, because of a dispute and strife that arose among the notable and virtuous men of that time. Some of them preferred Basil, while others preferred Gregory, and yet others preferred John Chrysostom, quarreling among themselves over which of the three was the greatest. Furthermore, each party, in order to distinguish itself from the others, assumed the name of its preferred Saint; hence, they called themselves Basilians, Gregorians, or Johannites. Desiring to bring an end to the contention, the three Saints appeared together to the saintly John Mavropous, a monk who had been ordained Bishop of Euchaita, a city of Asia Minor, they revealed to him that the glory they have at the throne of God is equal, and told him to compose a common service for the three of them, which he did with great skill and beauty. Saint John of Euchaita (celebrated Oct. 5) is also the composer of the Canon to the Guardian Angel, the Protector of a Man's Life. In his old age, he retired from his episcopal see and again took up the monastic life in a monastery in Constantinople. He reposed during the reign of the aforementioned Emperor Alexis Comnenus (1081-1118).” Taken with gratitude from the website of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America <a href="http://goarch.org/chapel/saints_view?contentid=408" >http://goarch.org/chapel/saints_view?contentid=408</a> http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=506_0_1_0_C Tue, 25 Jan 2011 15:13:42 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=505_0_1_0_C “The Lenten worship is...a school of repentance. It teaches us what is repentance and how to acquire the spirit of repentance. It prepares us for and leads us to the spiritual regeneration without which ‘absolution’ remains meaningless. It is, in short, both teaching about repentance and the way of repentance. And since there can be no real Christian life without repentance, without this constant ‘re-evaluation’ of life, the Lenten worship is an essential part of the liturgical tradition of the Church.” [Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=505_0_1_0_C Tue, 18 Jan 2011 02:36:02 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=504_0_1_0_C An office of the major orders of the clergy. A bishop (from the Greek episkopos, 'overseer') is the highest order of clergy in the Church, successor to the apostles in the charism of governing the Christian faithful. In present practice, bishops are always drawn from the ranks of the monastics, and thus are never married. All bishops in the Church are canonically equal, but there are distinctions of administrative rank among them. These are: 1. Ruling bishops (i.e. those who govern a diocese or territory). a. Diocesan Bishop: The normal rank of bishop, in charge of a diocese. b. Archbishop & Metropolitan: A title granted to a bishop in charge of a large or senior see; or at times as an honorific for long-serving bishops. In the older practice, preserved in the Slavic and Antiochian traditions, the rank of Metropolitan is higher than that of Archbishop; in the Greek practice this order is reversed. c. Patriarch: A title reserved for the primates of certain autocephalous churches. 2. Non-ruling bishops (i.e. a bishop who does not rule his own diocese): a. Patriarchal vicar: A bishop appointed by a patriarch for a specific task. b. Auxuliary bishop: A bishop serving in a diocese or territory as assistant to the diocesan bishop. 3. Titular bishops / two types: a. A bishop named for an ancient but no-longer-extant see, in order to serve in a territory where it is not possible to consecrate a bishop of locale title (e.g. the ruling diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Sourozh, Great Britain, is normally title 'Bishop of Sourozh', rather than 'Bishop of London'). b. A bishop given a titular rank in order to serve in a specific auxiliary capacity. [Taken from <a href="http://monachos.net/content/liturgics/liturgical-studies/481-orthodox-dictionary-glossary" >]http://monachos.net/content/liturgics/liturgical-studies/481-orthodox-dictionary-glossary]</a> http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=504_0_1_0_C Tue, 11 Jan 2011 01:07:10 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=503_0_1_0_C We shall now say something about the present feast. Many celebrate the feast days and know their designations, but the cause for which they were established they know not. Thus concerning this, that the present feast is called Theophany -- everyone knows; but what this is -- Theophany, and whether it be one thing or another, they know not. And this is shameful -- every year to celebrate the feast day and not know its reason. First of all therefore, it is necessary to say that there is not one Theophany, but two: the one actual, which already has occurred, and the second in future, which will happen with glory at the end of the world. About this one and about the other you will hear today from Paul, who in conversing with Titus, speaks thus about the present: "The grace of God hath revealed itself, having saved all mankind, decreeing, that we reject iniquity and worldly desires, and dwell in the present age in prudence and in righteousness and piety" -- and about the future: "awaiting the blessed hope and glorious appearance of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ" (Tit 2:11-13). And a prophet speaks thus about this latter: "the sun shalt turn to darkness, and the moon to blood at first, then shalt come the great and illuminating Day of the Lord" (Joel 2:31). Why is not that day, on which the Lord was born, considered Theophany -- but rather this day on which He was baptized? This present day it is, on which He was baptized and sanctified the nature of water. Because on this day all, having obtained the waters, do carry it home and keep it all year, since today the waters are sanctified; and an obvious phenomenon occurs: these waters in their essence do not spoil with the passage of time, but obtained today, for one whole year and often for two or three years, they remain unharmed and fresh, and afterwards for a long time do not stop being water, just as that obtained from the fountains. Why then is this day called Theophany? Because Christ made Himself known to all -- not then when He was born -- but then when He was baptized. Until this time He was not known to the people. And that the people did not know Him, Who He was, listen about this to John the Baptist, who says: "Amidst you standeth, Him Whom ye know not of" (Jn.1:26). And is it surprising that others did not know Him, when even the Baptist did not know Him until that day? "And I -- said he -- knew Him not: but He that did send me to baptize with water, about This One did tell unto me: over Him that shalt see the Spirit descending and abiding upon Him, This One it is Who baptizeth in the Holy Spirit" (Jn. 1:33). Thus from this it is evident, that -- there are two Theophanies, and why Christ comes at baptism and on whichever baptism He comes, about this it is necessary to say: it is therefore necessary to know both the one and equally the other. And first it is necessary to speak your love about the latter, so that we might learn about the former. There was a Jewish baptism, which cleansed from bodily impurities, but not to remove sins. Thus, whoever committed adultery, or decided on thievery, or who did some other kind of misdeed, it did not free him from guilt. But whoever touched the bones of the dead, whoever tasted food forbidden by the law, whoever approached from contamination, whoever consorted with lepers -- that one washed, and until evening was impure, and then cleansed. "Let one wash his body in pure water -- it says in the Scriptures, -- and he will be unclean until evening, and then he will be clean" (Lev 15:5, 22:4). This was not truly of sins or impurities, but since the Jews lacked perfection, then God, accomplishing it by means of this greater piety, prepared them by their beginnings for a precise observance of important things. Thus, Jewish cleansings did not free from sins, but only from bodily impurities. Not so with ours: it is far more sublime and it manifests a great grace, whereby it sets free from sin, it cleanses the spirit and bestows the gifts of the Spirit. And the baptism of John was far more sublime than the Jewish, but less so than ours: it was like a bridge between both baptisms, leading across itself from the first to the last. Wherefore John did not give guidance for observance of bodily purifications, but together with them he exhorted and advised to be converted from vice to good deeds and to trust in the hope of salvation and the accomplishing of good deeds, rather than in different washings and purifications by water. John did not say: wash your clothes, wash your body, and ye will be pure, but what? -- "bear ye fruits worthy of repentance" (Mt 3:8). Since it was more than of the Jews, but less than ours: the baptism of John did not impart the Holy Spirit and it did not grant forgiveness by grace: it gave the commandment to repent, but it was powerless to absolve sins. Wherefore John did also say: "I baptize you with water...That One however will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire" (Mt 3:11). Obviously, he did not baptize with the Spirit. But what does this mean: "with the Holy Spirit and with fire?" Call to mind that day, on which for the Apostles "there appeared disparate tongues like fire, and sat over each one of them" (Acts 2:3). And that the baptism of John did not impart the Spirit and remission of sins is evident from the following: Paul "found certain disciples, and said to them: received ye the Holy Spirit since ye have believed? They said to him: but furthermore whether it be of the Holy Spirit, we shall hear. He said to them: into what were ye baptized? They answered: into the baptism of John. Paul then said: John indeed baptized with the baptism of repentance," -- repentance, but not remission of sins; for whom did he baptize? "Having proclaimed to the people, that they should believe in the One coming after him, namely, Christ Jesus. Having heard this, they were baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus: and Paul laying his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them" (Acts 19:1-6). Do you see, how incomplete was the baptism of John? If the one were not incomplete, would then Paul have baptized them again, and placed his hands on them; having performed also the second, he shew the superiority of the apostolic Baptism and that the baptism of John was far less than his. Thus, from this we recognize the difference of the baptisms. Now it is necessary to say, for whom was Christ baptized and by which baptism? Neither the former the Jewish, nor the last -- ours. Whence hath He need for remission of sins, how is this possible for Him, Who hath not any sins? "Of sin, -- it says in the Scriptures, -- worked He not, nor was there deceit found in His mouth" (1 Pet 2:22); and further, "who of you convicted Me of Sin?" (Jn 8:46). And His flesh was privy to the Holy Spirit; how might this be possible, when it in the beginning was fashioned by the Holy Spirit? And so, if His flesh was privy to the Holy Spirit, and He was not subject to sins, then for whom was He baptized? But first of all it is necessary for us to recognize, by which baptism He was baptized, and then it will be clear for us. By which baptism indeed was He baptized? -- Not the Jewish, nor ours, nor John's. For whom, since thou from thine own aspect of baptism dost perceive, that He was baptized not by reason of sin and not having need of the gift of the Spirit; therefore, as we have demonstrated, this baptism was alien to the one and to the other. Hence it is evident, that He came to Jordan not for the forgiveness of sins and not for receiving the gifts of the Spirit. But so that some from those present then should not think, that He came for repentance like others, listen to how John precluded this. What he then spoke to the others then was: "Bear ye fruits worthy of repentance"; but listen what he said to Him: "I have need to be baptized of Thee, and Thou art come to me?" (Mt 3:8, 14). With these words he demonstrated, that Christ came to him not through that need with which people came, and that He was so far from the need to be baptized for this reason -- so much more sublime and perfectly purer than Baptism itself. For whom was He baptized, if this was done not for repentance, nor for the remission of sins, nor for receiving the gifts of the Spirit? Through the other two reasons, of which about the one the disciple speaks, and about the other He Himself spoke to John. Which reason of this baptism did John declare? Namely, that Christ should become known to the people, as Paul also mentions: "John therefore baptized with the baptism of repentance, so that through him they should believe on Him that cometh" (Acts 19:4); this was the consequence of the baptism. If John had gone to the home of each and, standing at the door, had spoken out for Christ and said: "He is the Son of God," such a testimony would have been suspicious, and this deed would have been extremely perplexing. So too, if he in advocating Christ had gone into the synagogues and witnessed to Him, this testimony of his might be suspiciously fabricated. But when all the people thronged out from all the cities to Jordan and remained on the banks of the river, and when He Himself came to be baptized and received the testimony of the Father by a voice from above and by the coming-upon of the Spirit in the form of a dove, then the testimony of John about Him was made beyond all questioning. And since he said: "and I knew Him not" (Jn 1:31), his testimony put forth is trustworthy. They were kindred after the flesh between themselves "wherefore Elizabeth, thy kinswoman, hath also conceived a son" -- said the Angel to Mary about the mother of John (Lk. 1: 36); if however the mothers were relatives, then obviously so also were the children. Thus, since they were kinsmen -- in order that it should not seem that John would testify concerning Christ because of kinship, the grace of the Spirit organized it such, that John spent all his early years in the wilderness, so that it should not seem that John had declared his testimony out of friendship or some similar reason. But John, as he was instructed of God, thus also announced about Him, wherein also he did say: "and I knew Him not." From whence didst thou find out? "He having sent me that sayeth to baptize with water, That One did tell me" What did He tell thee? "Over Him thou shalt see the Spirit descending, like to a dove, and abiding over Him, That One is baptized by the Holy Spirit" (Jn 1:32-33). Dost thou see, that the Holy Spirit did not descend as in a first time then coming down upon Him, but in order to point out that preached by His inspiration -- as though by a finger, it pointed Him out to all. For this reason He came to baptism. And there is a second reason, about which He Himself spoke -- what exactly is it? When John said: "I have need to be baptized of Thee, and Thou art come to me?" -- He answered thus: "stay now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill every righteousness" (Mt 3:14-15). Dost thou see the meekness of the servant? Dost thou see the humility of the Master? What does He mean: "to fulfill every righteousness?" By righteousness is meant the fulfillment of all the commandments, as is said: "both were righteous, walking faultlessly in the commandments of the Lord" (Lk 1:6). Since fulfilling this righteousness was necessary for all people -- but no one of them kept it or fulfilled it -- Christ came then and fulfilled this righteousness. And what righteousness is there, someone will say, in being baptized? Obedience for a prophet was righteous. As Christ was circumcised, offered sacrifice, kept the Sabbath and observed the Jewish feasts, so also He added this remaining thing, that He was obedient to having been baptized by a prophet. It was the will of God then, that all should be baptized -- about which listen, as John speaks: "He having sent me to baptize with water" (Jn 1:33); so also Christ: "the publicans and the people do justify God, having been baptized with the baptism of John; the Pharisees and the lawyers reject the counsel of God concerning themselves, not having been baptized by him" (Lk 7:29-30). Thus, if obedience to God constitutes righteousness, and God sent John to baptize the nation, then Christ has also fulfilled this along with all the other commandments. Consider, that the commandments of the law is the main point of the two denarii: this -- debt, which our race has needed to pay; but we did not pay it, and we, falling under such an accusation, are embraced by death. Christ came, and finding us afflicted by it -- He paid the debt, fulfilled the necessary and seized from it those, who were not able to pay. Wherefore He does not say: "it is necessary for us to do this or that," but rather "to fulfill every righteousness." "It is for Me, being the Master, -- says He, -- proper to make payment for the needy." Such was the reason for His baptism -- wherefore they should see, that He had fulfilled all the law -- both this reason and also that, about which was spoken of before. Wherefore also the Spirit did descend as a dove: because where there is reconciliation with God -- there also is the dove. So also in the ark of Noah the dove did bring the branch of olive -- a sign of God's love of mankind and of the cessation of the flood. And now in the form of a dove, and not in a body -- this particularly deserves to be noted -- the Spirit descended, announcing the universal mercy of God and showing with it, that the spiritual man needs to be gentle, simple and innocent, as Christ also says: "Except ye be converted and become as children, ye shalt not enter into the Heavenly Kingdom" (Mt 18:3). But that ark, after the cessation of the flood, remained upon the earth; this ark, after the cessation of wrath, is taken to heaven, and now this Immaculate and Imperishable Body is situated at the right hand of the Father. Having made mention about the Body of the Lord, I shall also say a little about this, and then the conclusion of the talk. Many now will approach the Holy Table on the occasion of the feast. But some approach not with trembling, but shoving, hitting others, blazing with anger, shouting, cursing, roughing it up with their fellows with great confusion. What, tell me, art thou troubled by, my fellow? What disturbed thee? Do urgent affairs, for certain, summon thee? At this hour art thou particularly aware, that these affairs of thine that thou particularly remembers, that thou art situated upon the earth, and dost thou think to mix about with people? But is it not with a soul of stone naturally to think, that in such a time thou stand upon the earth, and not exult with the Angels with whom to raise up victorious song to God? For this Christ also did describe us with eagles, saying: "where the corpse is, there are the eagles gathered" (Mt 24:28) -- so that we might have risen to heaven and soared to the heights, having ascended on the wings of the spirit; but we, like snakes, crawl upon the earth and eat dirt. Having been invited to supper, thou, although satiated before others, would not dare to leave before others while others are still reclining. But here, when the sacred doings are going on, thou at the very middle would pass by everything and leave? Is it for a worthy excuse? What excuse might it be? Judas, having communed that last evening on that final night, left hastily then as all the others were still reclining. Here these also are in imitation of him, who leave before the final blessing! If he had not gone, then he would not have made the betrayal; if he did not leave his co-disciples, then he would not have perished; if he had not removed himself from the flock, then the wolf would not have seized and devoured him alone; if he had separated himself from the Pastor, then he would not have made himself the prey of wild beasts. Wherefore he (Judas) was with the Jews, and those (the apostles) went out with the Lord. Dost thou see, by what manner the final prayer after the offering of the sacrifice is accomplished? We should, beloved, stand forth for this, we should ponder this, fearful of the coming judgment for this. We should approach the Holy Sacrifice with great decorum, with proper piety, so as to merit us more of God's benevolence, to cleanse one's soul and to receive eternal blessings, of which may we all be worthy by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to with Whom the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and worship now and ever and unto ages of ages. + Amen. http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=503_0_1_0_C Wed, 05 Jan 2011 03:09:36 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=502_0_1_0_C I. Again My Jesus, and again a mystery; not deceitful nor disorderly, nor belonging to Greek error or drunkenness (for so I call their solemnities, and so I think will every man of sound sense); but a mystery lofty and divine, and allied to the Glory above. For the Holy Day of the Lights, to which we have come, and which we are celebrating today, has for its origin the Baptism of my Christ, the True Light That lightens every man that comes into the world, John 1:9 and effects my purification, and assists that light which we received from the beginning from Him from above, but which we darkened and confused by sin. II. Therefore listen to the Voice of God, which sounds so exceeding clearly to me, who am both disciple and master of these mysteries, as would to God it may sound to you; I Am The Light Of The World. John 8:12 Therefore approach ye to Him and be enlightened, and let not your faces be ashamed, being signed with the true Light. It is a season of new birth, John 3:3 let us be born again. It is a time of reformation, let us receive again the first Adam. Let us not remain what we are, but let us become what we once were. The Light Shines In Darkness, in this life and in the flesh, and is chased by the darkness, but is not overtaken by it:— I mean the adverse power leaping up in its shamelessness against the visible Adam, but encountering God and being defeated—in order that we, putting away the darkness, may draw near to the Light, and may then become perfect Light, the children of perfect Light. See the grace of this Day; see the power of this mystery. Are you not lifted up from the earth? Are you not clearly placed on high, being exalted by our voice and meditation? And you will be placed much higher when the Word shall have prospered the course of my words. III. Is there any such among the shadowy purifications of the Law, aiding as it did with temporary sprinklings, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean; or do the gentiles celebrate any such thing in their mysteries, every ceremony and mystery of which to me is nonsense, and a dark invention of demons, and a figment of an unhappy mind, aided by time, and hidden by fable? For what they worship as true, they veil as mythical. But if these things are true, they ought not to be called myths, but to be proved not to be shameful; Hebrews 7:13 and if they are false, they ought not to be objects of wonder; nor ought people so inconsiderately to hold the most contrary opinions about the same thing, as if they were playing in the market-place with boys or really ill-disposed men, not engaged in discussion with men of sense, and worshippers of the Word, though despisers of this artificial plausibility. IV. We are not concerned in these mysteries with birth of Zeus and thefts of the Cretan Tyrant (though the Greeks may be displeased at such a title for him), nor with the name of Curetes, and the armed dances, which were to hide the wailings of a weeping god, that he might escape from his father's hate. For indeed it would be a strange thing that he who was swallowed as a stone should be made to weep as a child. Nor are we concerned with Phrygian mutilations and flutes and Corybantes, and all the ravings of men concerning Rhea, consecrating people to the mother of the gods, and being initiated into such ceremonies as befit the mother of such gods as these. Nor have we any carrying away of the Maiden, nor wandering of Demeter, nor her intimacy with Celei and Triptolemi and Dragons; nor her doings and sufferings...for I am ashamed to bring into daylight that ceremony of the night, and to make a sacred mystery of obscenity. Eleusis knows these things, and so do those who are eyewitnesses of what is there guarded by silence, and well worthy of it. Nor is our commemoration one of Dionysus, and the thigh that travailed with an incomplete birth, as before a head had travailed with another; nor of the hermaphrodite god, nor a chorus of the drunken and enervated host; nor of the folly of the Thebans which honours him; nor the thunderbolt of Semele which they adore. Nor is it the harlot mysteries of Aphrodite, who, as they themselves admit, was basely born and basely honoured; nor have we here Phalli and Ithyphalli, shameful both in form and action; nor Taurian massacres of strangers; nor blood of Laconian youths shed upon the altars, as they scourged themselves with the whips; and in this case alone use their courage badly, who honour a goddess, and her a virgin. For these same people both honour effeminacy, and worship boldness. V. And where will you place the butchery of Pelops, which feasted hungry gods, that bitter and inhuman hospitality? Where the horrible and dark spectres of Hecate, and the underground puerilities and sorceries of Trophonius, or the babblings of the Dodonæan Oak, or the trickeries of the Delphian tripod, or the prophetic draught of Castalia, which could prophesy anything, except their own being brought to silence? Nor is it the sacrificial art of Magi, and their entrail forebodings, nor the Chaldæan astronomy and horoscopes, comparing our lives with the movements of the heavenly bodies, which cannot know even what they are themselves, or shall be. Nor are these Thracian orgies, from which the word Worship (&#952;&#961;&#951;&#963;&#954;&#949;&#8055;&#945;) is said to be derived; nor rites and mysteries of Orpheus, whom the Greeks admired so much for his wisdom that they devised for him a lyre which draws all things by its music. Nor the tortures of Mithras which it is just that those who can endure to be initiated into such things should suffer; nor the manglings of Osiris, another calamity honoured by the Egyptians; nor the ill-fortunes of Isis and the goats more venerable than the Mendesians, and the stall of Apis, the calf that luxuriated in the folly of the Memphites, nor all those honours with which they outrage the Nile, while themselves proclaiming it in song to be the Giver of fruits and grain, and the measurer of happiness by its cubits. VI. I pass over the honours they pay to reptiles, and their worship of vile things, each of which has its peculiar cultus and festival, and all share in a common devilishness; so that, if they were absolutely bound to be ungodly, and to fall away from honouring God, and to be led astray to idols and works of art and things made with hands, men of sense could not imprecate anything worse upon themselves than that they might worship just such things, and honour them in just such a way; that, as Paul says, they might receive in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet, Romans 1:27 in the very objects of their worship; not so much honouring them as suffering dishonour by them; abominable because of their error, and yet more abominable from the vileness of the objects of their adoration and worship; so that they should be even more without understanding than the objects of their worship; being as excessively foolish as the latter are vile. VII. Well, let these things be the amusement of the children of the Greeks and of the demons to whom their folly is due, who turn aside the honour of God to themselves, and divide men in various ways in pursuit of shameful thoughts and fancies, ever since they drove us away from the Tree of Life, by means of the Tree of Knowledge unseasonably and improperly imparted to us, and then assailed us as now weaker than before; carrying clean away the mind, which is the ruling power in us, and opening a door to the passions. For, being of a nature envious and man-hating, or rather having become so by their own wickedness, they could neither endure that we who were below should attain to that which is above, having themselves fallen from above upon the earth; nor that such a change in their glory and their first natures should have taken place. This is the meaning of their persecution of the creature. For this God's Image was outraged; and as we did not like to keep the Commandments, we were given over to the independence of our error. And as we erred we were disgraced by the objects of our worship. For there was not only this calamity, that we who were made for good works to the glory and praise of our Maker, and to imitate God as far as might be, were turned into a den of all sorts of passions, which cruelly devour and consume the inner man; but there was this further evil, that man actually made gods the advocates of his passions, so that sin might be reckoned not only irresponsible, but even divine, taking refuge in the objects of his worship as his apology. VIII. But since to us grace has been given to flee from superstitious error and to be joined to the truth and to serve the living and true God, and to rise above creation, passing by all that is subject to time and to first motion; let us look at and reason upon God and things divine in a manner corresponding to this Grace given us. But let us begin our discussion of them from the most fitting point. And the most fitting is, as Solomon laid down for us; us; The beginning of wisdom, he says, is to get wisdom. Proverbs 4:7 And what this is he tells us; the beginning of wisdom is fear. For we must not begin with contemplation and leave off with fear (for an unbridled contemplation would perhaps push us over a precipice), but we must be grounded and purified and so to say made light by fear, and thus be raised to the height. For where fear is there is keeping of commandments; and where there is keeping of commandments there is purifying of the flesh, that cloud which covers the soul and suffers it not to see the Divine Ray. And where there is purifying there is Illumination; and Illumination is the satisfying of desire to those who long for the greatest things, or the Greatest Thing, or That Which surpasses all greatness. IX. Wherefore we must purify ourselves first, and then approach this converse with the Pure; unless we would have the same experience as Israel, Exodus 34:30 who could not endure the glory of the face of Moses, and therefore asked for a veil; 2 Corinthians 3:7 or else would feel and say with Manoah We are undone O wife, we have seen God, Judges 13:23 although it was God only in his fancy; or like Peter would send Jesus out of the boat, Luke 5:8 as being ourselves unworthy of such a visit; and when I say Peter, I am speaking of the man who walked upon the waves; Matthew 14:29 or like Paul would be stricken in eyes, Acts 9:3-8 as he was before he was cleansed from the guilt of his persecution, when he conversed with Him Whom he was persecuting— or rather with a short flash of That great Light; or like the Centurion Matthew 8:8 would seek for healing, but would not, through a praiseworthy fear, receive the Healer into his house. Let each one of us also speak so, as long as he is still uncleansed, and is a Centurion still, commanding many in wickedness, and serving in the army of Cæsar, the World-ruler of those who are being dragged down; I am not worthy that you should come under my roof. But when he shall have looked upon Jesus, though he be little of stature like Zaccheus Luke 19:3 of old, and climb up on the top of the sycamore tree by mortifying his members which are upon the earth, Colossians 3:5 and having risen above the body of humiliation, then he shall receive the Word, and it shall be said to him, This day is salvation come to this house. Luke 19:9 Then let him lay hold on the salvation, and bring forth fruit more perfectly, scattering and pouring forth rightly that which as a publican he wrongly gathered. X. For the same Word is on the one hand terrible through its nature to those who are unworthy, and on the other through its loving kindness can be received by those who are thus prepared, who have driven out the unclean and worldly spirit from their souls, and have swept and adorned their own souls by self-examination, and have not left them idle or without employment, so as again to be occupied with greater armament by the seven spirits of wickedness...the same number as are reckoned of virtue (for that which is hardest to fight against calls for the sternest efforts)...but besides fleeing from evil, practise virtue, making Christ entirely, or at any rate to the greatest extent possible, to dwell within them, so that the power of evil cannot meet with any empty place to fill it again with himself, and make the last state of that man worse than the first, by the greater energy of his assault, and the greater strength and impregnability of the fortress. But when, having guarded our soul with every care, and having appointed goings up in our heart, and broken up our fallow ground, Jeremiah 4:3 and sown unto righteousness, Proverbs 11:18 as David and Solomon and Jeremiah bid us, let us enlighten ourselves with the light of knowledge, and then let us speak of the Wisdom of God that has been hid in a mystery, 2 Corinthians 2:6 and enlighten others. Meanwhile let us purify ourselves, and receive the elementary initiation of the Word, that we may do ourselves the utmost good, making ourselves godlike, and receiving the Word at His coming; and not only so, but holding Him fast and showing Him to others. XI. And now, having purified the theatre by what has been said, let us discourse a little about the Festival, and join in celebrating this Feast with festal and pious souls. And, since the chief point of the Festival is the remembrance of God, let us call God to mind. For I think that the sound of those who keep Festival There, where is the dwelling of all the Blissful, is nothing else than this, the hymns and praises of God, sung by all who are counted worthy of that City. Let none be astonished if what I have to say contains some things that I have said before; for not only will I utter the same words, but I shall speak of the same subjects, trembling both in tongue and mind and thought when I speak of God for you too, that you may share this laudable and blessed feeling. And when I speak of God you must be illumined at once by one flash of light and by three. Three in Individualities or Hypostases, if any prefer so to call them, or persons, for we will not quarrel about names so long as the syllables amount to the same meaning; but One in respect of the Substance— that is, the Godhead. For they are divided without division, if I may so say; and they are united in division. For the Godhead is one in three, and the three are one, in whom the Godhead is, or to speak more accurately, Who are the Godhead. Excesses and defects we will omit, neither making the Unity a confusion, nor the division a separation. We would keep equally far from the confusion of Sabellius and from the division of Arius, which are evils diametrically opposed, yet equal in their wickedness. For what need is there heretically to fuse God together, or to cut Him up into inequality? XII. For to us there is but One God, the Father, of Whom are all things, and One Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom are all things; and One Holy Ghost, in Whom are all things; 2 Corinthians 8:6 yet these words, of, by, in, whom, do not denote a difference of nature (for if this were the case, the three prepositions, or the order of the three names would never be altered), but they characterize the personalities of a nature which is one and unconfused. And this is proved by the fact that They are again collected into one, if you will read— not carelessly— this other passage of the same Apostle, Of Him and through Him and to Him are all things; to Him be glory forever, Amen. Romans 11:36 The Father is Father, and is Unoriginate, for He is of no one; the Son is Son, and is not unoriginate, for He is of the Father. But if you take the word Origin in a temporal sense, He too is Unoriginate, for He is the Maker of Time, and is not subject to Time. The Holy Ghost is truly Spirit, coming forth from the Father indeed, but not after the manner of the Son, for it is not by Generation but by Procession (since I must coin a word for the sake of clearness ); for neither did the Father cease to be Unbegotten because of His begetting something, nor the Son to be begotten because He is of the Unbegotten (how could that be?), nor is the Spirit changed into Father or Son because He proceeds, or because He is God— though the ungodly do not believe it. For Personality is unchangeable; else how could Personality remain, if it were changeable, and could be removed from one to another? But they who make Unbegotten and Begotten natures of equivocal gods would perhaps make Adam and Seth differ in nature, since the former was not born of flesh (for he was created), but the latter was born of Adam and Eve. There is then One God in Three, and These Three are One, as we have said. XIII. Since then these things are so, or rather since This is so; and His Adoration ought not to be rendered only by Beings above, but there ought to be also worshippers on earth, that all things may be filled with the glory of God (forasmuch as they are filled with God Himself); therefore man was created and honored with the hand and Image of God. But to despise man, when by the envy of the Devil and the bitter taste of sin he was pitiably severed from God his Maker— this was not in the Nature of God. What then was done, and what is the great Mystery that concerns us? An innovation is made upon nature, and God is made Man. He that rides upon the Heaven of Heavens in the East of His own glory and Majesty, is glorified in the West of our meanness and lowliness. And the Son of God deigns to become and to be called Son of Man; not changing what He was (for It is unchangeable); but assuming what He was not (for He is full of love to man), that the Incomprehensible might be comprehended, conversing with us through the mediation of the Flesh as through a veil; since it was not possible for that nature which is subject to birth and decay to endure His unveiled Godhead. Therefore the Unmingled is mingled; and not only is God mingled with birth and Spirit with flesh, and the Eternal with time, and the Uncircumscribed with measure; but also Generation with Virginity, and dishonour with Him who is higher than all honour; He who is impassible with Suffering, and the Immortal with the corruptible. For since that Deceiver thought that he was unconquerable in his malice, after he had cheated us with the hope of becoming gods, he was himself cheated by God's assumption of our nature; so that in attacking Adam as he thought, he should really meet with God, and thus the new Adam should save the old, and the condemnation of the flesh should be abolished, death being slain by flesh. XIV. At His birth we duly kept Festival, both I, the leader of the Feast, and you, and all that is in the world and above the world. With the Star we ran, and with the Magi we worshipped, and with the Shepherds we were illuminated, and with the Angels we glorified Him, and with Simeon we took Him up in our arms, and with Anna the aged and chaste we made our responsive confession. And thanks be to Him who came to His own in the guise of a stranger, because He glorified the stranger. Now, we come to another action of Christ, and another mystery. I cannot restrain my pleasure; I am rapt into God. Almost like John I proclaim good tidings; for though I be not a Forerunner, yet am I from the desert. Christ is illumined, let us shine forth with Him. Christ is baptized, let us descend with Him that we may also ascend with Him. Jesus is baptized; but we must attentively consider not only this but also some other points. Who is He, and by whom is He baptized, and at what time? He is the All-pure; and He is baptized by John; and the time is the beginning of His miracles. What are we to learn and to be taught by this? To purify ourselves first; to be lowly minded; and to preach only in maturity both of spiritual and bodily stature. The first has a word especially for those who rush to Baptism off hand, and without due preparation, or providing for the stability of the Baptismal Grace by the disposition of their minds to good. For since Grace contains remission of the past (for it is a grace), it is on that account more worthy of reverence, that we return not to the same vomit again. The second speaks to those who rebel against the Stewards of this Mystery, if they are their superiors in rank. The third is for those who are confident in their youth, and think that any time is the right one to teach or to preside. Jesus is purified, and do you despise purification?...and by John, and do you rise up against your herald?...and at thirty years of age, and do you before your beard has grown presume to teach the aged, or believe that you teach them, though thou be not reverend on account of your age, or even perhaps for your character? But here it may be said, Daniel, and this or that other, were judges in their youth, and examples are on your tongues; for every wrongdoer is prepared to defend himself. But I reply that that which is rare is not the law of the Church. For one swallow does not make a summer, nor one line a geometrician, nor one voyage a sailor. XV. But John baptizes, Jesus comes to Him Matthew 3:14 ...perhaps to sanctify the Baptist himself, but certainly to bury the whole of the old Adam in the water; and before this and for the sake of this, to sanctify Jordan; for as He is Spirit and Flesh, so He consecrates us by Spirit and water. John 5:35 John will not receive Him; Jesus contends. I have need to be baptized by You Matthew 3:17 says the Voice to the Word, the Friend to the Bridegroom; John 3:39 he that is above all among them that are born of women, Matthew 11:11 to Him Who is the Firstborn of every creature; Colossians 1:5 he that leaped in the womb, Luke 1:41 to Him Who was adored in the womb; he who was and is to be the Forerunner to Him Who was and is to be manifested. I have need to be baptized by You; add to this and for You; for he knew that he would be baptized by Martyrdom, or, like Peter, that he would be cleansed not only as to his feet. John 13:9 And You come to me? This also was prophetic; for he knew that after Herod would come the madness of Pilate, and so that when he had gone before Christ would follow him. But what says Jesus? Allow it to be so now, for this is the time of His Incarnation; for He knew that yet a little while and He should baptize the Baptist. And what is the Fan? The Purification. And what is the Fire? The consuming of the chaff, and the heat of the Spirit. And what the Axe? The excision of the soul which is incurable even after the dung. Luke 13:8 And what the Sword? The cutting of the Word, which separates the worse from the better, Hebrews 4:12 and makes a division between the faithful and the unbeliever; Matthew 10:35 and stirs up the son and the daughter and the bride against the father and the mother and the mother in law, Micah 7:6 the young and fresh against the old and shadowy. And what is the Latchet of the shoe, which thou John who baptizest Jesus may not loose? John 1:27 thou who art of the desert, and hast no food, the new Elias, Luke 7:26 the more than Prophet, inasmuch as you saw Him of Whom you prophesied, thou Mediator of the Old and New Testaments. What is this? Perhaps the Message of the Advent, and the Incarnation, of which not the least point may be loosed, I say not by those who are yet carnal and babes in Christ, but not even by those who are like John in spirit. XVI. But further— Jesus goes up out of the water...for with Himself He carries up the world...and sees the heaven opened which Adam had shut against himself and all his posterity, Genesis 3:24 as the gates of Paradise by the flaming sword. And the Spirit bears witness to His Godhead, for he descends upon One that is like Him, as does the Voice from Heaven (for He to Whom the witness is borne came from thence), and like a Dove, for He honours the Body (for this also was God, through its union with God) by being seen in a bodily form; and moreover, the Dove has from distant ages been wont to proclaim the end of the Deluge. But if you are to judge of Godhead by bulk and weight, and the Spirit seems to you a small thing because He came in the form of a Dove, O man of contemptible littleness of thought concerning the greatest of things, you must also to be consistent despise the Kingdom of Heaven, because it is compared to a grain of mustard seed; Matthew 13:31 and you must exalt the adversary above the Majesty of Jesus, because he is called a great Mountain, Zechariah 4:7 and Leviathan and King of that which lives in the water, whereas Christ is called the Lamb, Isaiah 53:7 and the Pearl, Matthew 13:46 and the Drop and similar names. XVII. Now, since our Festival is of Baptism, and we must endure a little hardness with Him Who for our sake took form, and was baptized, and was crucified; let us speak about the different kinds of Baptism, that we may come out thence purified. Moses baptized Leviticus xi but it was in water, and before that in the cloud and in the sea. 1 Corinthians 10:2 This was typical as Paul says; the Sea of the water, and the Cloud of the Spirit; the Manna, of the Bread of Life; the Drink, of the Divine Drink. John also baptized; but this was not like the baptism of the Jews, for it was not only in water, but also unto repentance. Still it was not wholly spiritual, for he does not add And in the Spirit. Jesus also baptized, but in the Spirit. This is the perfect Baptism. And how is He not God, if I may digress a little, by whom you too are made God? I know also a Fourth Baptism— that by Martyrdom and blood, which also Christ himself underwent:— and this one is far more august than all the others, inasmuch as it cannot be defiled by after-stains. Yes, and I know of a Fifth also, which is that of tears, and is much more laborious, received by him who washes his bed every night and his couch with tears; whose bruises stink through his wickedness; and who goes mourning and of a sad countenance; who imitates the repentance of Manasseh Ninevites Jonah 3:7-10 upon which God had mercy; who utters the words of the Publican in the Temple, and is justified rather than the stiff-necked Pharisee; Luke 18:13 who like the Canaanite woman bends down and asks for mercy and crumbs, the food of a dog that is very hungry. Matthew 15:27 XVIII. I, however, for I confess myself to be a man—that is to say, an animal shifty and of a changeable nature,— both eagerly receive this Baptism, and worship Him Who has given it me, and impart it to others; and by showing mercy make provision for mercy. For I know that I too am compassed with infirmity, Hebrews 5:2 and that with what measure I mete it shall be measured to me again. Matthew 7:2 But what do you say, O new Pharisee pure in title but not in intention, who dischargest upon us the sentiments of Novatus, though you share the same infirmities? Will you not give any place to weeping? Will you shed no tear? May you not meet with a Judge like yourself? Are you not ashamed by the mercy of Jesus, Who took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses; Matthew 8:17 Who came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance; Who will have mercy rather than sacrifice; who forgives sins till seventy times seven. How blessed would your exaltation be if it really were purity, not pride, making laws above the reach of men, and destroying improvement by despair. For both are alike evil, indulgence not regulated by prudence, and condemnation that will never forgive; the one because it relaxes all reins, the other because it strangles by its severity. Show me your purity, and I will approve your boldness. But as it is, I fear that being full of sores you will render them incurable. Will you not admit even David's repentance, to whom his penitence preserved even the gift of prophecy? Nor the great Peter himself, who fell into human weakness at the Passion of our Saviour? Yet Jesus received him, and by the threefold question and confession healed the threefold denial. Or will you even refuse to admit that he was made perfect by blood (for your folly goes even as far as that)? Or the transgressor at Corinth? But Paul confirmed love towards him when he saw his amendment, and gives the reason, that such an one be not swallowed up by overmuch sorrow, 2 Corinthians 2:7 being overwhelmed by the excess of the punishment. And will you refuse to grant liberty of marriage to young widows on account of the liability of their age to fall? Paul ventured to do so; but of course you can teach him; for you have been caught up to the Fourth heaven, and to another Paradise, and have heard words more unspeakable, and comprehend a larger circle in your Gospel. XIX. But these sins were not after Baptism, you will say. Where is your proof? Either prove it— or refrain from condemning; and if there be any doubt, let charity prevail. But Novatus, you say, would not receive those who lapsed in the persecution. What do you mean by this? If they were unrepentant he was right; I too would refuse to receive those who either would not stoop at all or not sufficiently, and who would refuse to make their amendment counterbalance their sin; and when I do receive them, I will assign them their proper place; but if he refused those who wore themselves away with weeping, I will not imitate him. And why should Novatus's want of charity be a rule for me? He never punished covetousness, which is a second idolatry; but he condemned fornication as though he himself were not flesh and body. What say you? Are we convincing you by these words? Come and stand here on our side, that is, on the side of humanity. Let us magnify the Lord together. Let none of you, even though he has much confidence in himself, dare to say, Touch me not for I am pure, and who is so pure as I? Give us too a share in your brightness. But perhaps we are not convincing you? Then we will weep for you. Let these men then if they will, follow our way, which is Christ's way; but if they will not, let them go their own. Perhaps in it they will be baptized with Fire, in that last Baptism which is more painful and longer, which devours wood like grass, 1 Corinthians 3:12-19 and consumes the stubble of every evil. XX. But let us venerate today the Baptism of Christ; and let us keep the feast well, not in pampering the belly, but rejoicing in spirit. And how shall we luxuriate? Wash you, make you clean. Isaiah 1:17-18 If you be scarlet with sin and less bloody, be made white as snow; if you be red, and men bathed in blood, yet be ye brought to the whiteness of wool. Anyhow be purified, and you shall be clean (for God rejoices in nothing so much as in the amendment and salvation of man, on whose behalf is every discourse and every Sacrament), that you may be like lights in the world, a quickening force to all other men; that you may stand as perfect lights beside That great Light, and may learn the mystery of the illumination of Heaven, enlightened by the Trinity more purely and clearly, of Which even now you are receiving in a measure the One Ray from the One Godhead in Christ Jesus our Lord; to Whom be the glory and the might for ever and ever. Amen. http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=502_0_1_0_C Mon, 27 Dec 2010 15:42:48 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=501_0_1_0_C I behold a new and wondrous mystery! My ears resound to the Shepherd's song, piping no soft melody, but chanting full forth a heavenly hymn. The Angels sing! The Archangels blend their voices in harmony! The Cherubim hymn their joyful praise! The Seraphim exalt His glory! All join to praise this holy feast, beholding the Godhead here on earth, and man in heaven. He who is above, now for our redemption dwells here below; and he that was lowly is by divine mercy raised. Bethlehem this day resembles heaven; hearing from the stars the singing of angelic voices; and in place of the sun, enfolds within itself on every side the Sun of Justice. And ask not how: for where God wills, the order of nature yields. For He willed, he had the power, He descended, He redeemed; all things move in obedience to God. This day He Who Is, is Born; and He Who Is becomes what He was not. For when He was God, He became man; yet not departing from the Godhead that is His. Nor yet by any loss of divinity became He man, nor through increase became he God from man; but being the Word He became flesh, His nature, because of impassibility, remaining unchanged. And so the kings have come, and they have seen the heavenly King that has come upon the earth, not bringing with Him Angels, nor Archangels, nor Thrones, nor Dominations, nor Powers, nor Principalities, but, treading a new and solitary path, He has come forth from a spotless womb. Yet He has not forsaken His angels, nor left them deprived of His care, nor because of His Incarnation has he departed from the Godhead. And behold, Kings have come, that they might adore the heavenly King of glory; Soldiers, that they might serve the Leader of the Hosts of Heaven; Women, that they might adore Him Who was born of a woman so that He might change the pains of child-birth into joy; Virgins, to the Son of the Virgin, beholding with joy, that He Who is the Giver of milk, Who has decreed that the fountains of the breast pour forth in ready streams, receives from a Virgin Mother the food of infancy; Infants, that they may adore Him Who became a little child, so that out of the mouth of infants and sucklings, He might perfect praise; Children, to the Child Who raised up martyrs through the rage of Herod; Men, to Him Who became man, that He might heal the miseries of His servants; Shepherds, to the Good Shepherd Who has laid down His life for His sheep; Priests, to Him Who has become a High Priest according to the order of Melchisedech; Servants, to Him Who took upon Himself the form of a servant that He might bless our servitude with the reward of freedom; Fishermen, to Him Who from amongst fishermen chose catchers of men; Publicans, to Him Who from amongst them named a chosen Evangelist; Sinful women, to Him Who exposed His feet to the tears of the repentant; And that I may embrace them all together, all sinners have come, that they may look upon the Lamb of God Who taketh away the sins of the world. Since therefore all rejoice, I too desire to rejoice. I too wish to share the choral dance, to celebrate the festival. But I take my part, not plucking the harp, not shaking the Thyrsian staff, not with the music of pipes, nor holding a torch, but holding in my arms the cradle of Christ. For this is all my hope, this my life, this my salvation, this my pipe, my harp. And bearing it I come, and having from its power received the gift of speech, I too, with the angels, sing: Glory to God in the Highest; and with the shepherds: and on earth peace to men of good will. [St John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=501_0_1_0_C Tue, 21 Dec 2010 15:58:18 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=500_0_1_0_C “Thus then, as we have said, the Creator fashioned the race of men, and thus meant it to remain. But men, making light of better things, and holding back from apprehending them, began to seek in preference things nearer to themselves. But nearer to themselves were the body and its senses; so that while removing their mind from the things perceived by thought, they began to regard themselves; and so doing, and holding to the body and the other things of sense, and deceived as it were in their own surroundings, they fell into lust of themselves, preferring what was their own to the contemplation of what belonged to God. Having then made themselves at home in these things, and not being willing to leave what was so near to them, they entangled their soul with bodily pleasures, vexed and turbid with all kind of lusts, while they wholly forgot the power they originally had from God. But the truth of this one may see from the man who was first made, according to what the holy Scriptures tell us of him. For he also, as long as he kept his mind to God, and the contemplation of God, turned away from the contemplation of the body. But when, by counsel of the serpent, he departed from the consideration of God, and began to regard himself, then they not only fell to bodily lust, but knew that they were naked, and knowing, were ashamed. But they knew that they were naked, not so much of clothing as that they had become stripped of the contemplation of divine things, and had transferred their understanding to the contraries. For having departed from the consideration of the one and the true, namely, God, and from desire of Him, they had thenceforward embarked in various lusts and in those of the several bodily senses. Next, as is apt to happen, having formed a desire for each and sundry, they began to be habituated to these desires, so that they were even afraid to leave them: whence the soul became subject to cowardice and alarms, and pleasures and thoughts of mortality. For not being willing to leave her lusts, she fears death and her separation from the body. But again, from lusting, and not meeting with gratification, she learned to commit murder and wrong. We are then led naturally to show, as best we can, how she does this.” [St. Athanasius of Alexandria, Against the Heathen] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=500_0_1_0_C Tue, 14 Dec 2010 13:47:41 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=499_0_1_0_C “God, Father Almighty, maker of all things both visible and invisible, that has His being from Himself. And in one Only-begotten Word, Wisdom, Son, begotten of the Father without beginning and eternally; word not pronounced nor mental, nor an effluence of the Perfect, nor a dividing of the impassible Essence, nor an issue; but absolutely perfect Son, living and powerful (Hebrews 4:12), the true Image of the Father, equal in honor and glory. For this, he says, ‘is the will of the Father, that as they honor the Father, so they may honor the Son also’ (John 5:23): very God of very God, as John says in his general Epistles, ‘And we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ: this is the true God and everlasting life’ (1 John 5:20): Almighty of Almighty. For all things which the Father rules and sways, the Son rules and sways likewise: wholly from the Whole, being like the Father as the Lord says, ‘he that has seen Me has seen the Father’ (John 14:9). But He was begotten ineffably and incomprehensibly, for ‘who shall declare his generation?’ (Isaiah 53:8), in other words, no one can. Who, when at the consummation of the ages (Hebrews 9:26), He had descended from the bosom of the Father, took from the undefiled Virgin Mary our humanity (&#7940;íèñùðïí), Christ Jesus, whom He delivered of His own will to suffer for us, as the Lord said: ‘No man takes My life from Me. I have power to lay it down, and have power to take it again’ (John 10:18). In which humanity He was crucified and died for us, and rose from the dead, and was taken up into the heavens, having been created as the beginning of ways for us (Proverbs 8:22), when on earth He showed us light from out of darkness, salvation from error, life from the dead, an entrance to paradise, from which Adam was cast out, and into which he again entered by means of the thief, as the Lord said, ‘This day shall you be with Me in paradise’ (Luke 23:43), into which Paul also once entered. [He showed us] also a way up to the heavens, whither the humanity of the Lord, in which He will judge the quick and the dead, entered as precursor for us. We believe, likewise, also in the Holy Spirit that searches all things, even the deep things of God (1 Corinthians 2:10), and we anathematize doctrines contrary to this.” [St. Athanasius of Alexandria, The Statement of Faith] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=499_0_1_0_C Tue, 07 Dec 2010 14:19:20 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=498_0_1_0_C “You are wondering, perhaps, for what possible reason, having proposed to speak of the Incarnation of the Word, we are at present treating of the origin of mankind. But this, too, properly belongs to the aim of our treatise. For in speaking of the appearance of the Savior among us, we must needs speak also of the origin of men, that you may know that the reason of His coming down was because of us, and that our transgression called forth the loving-kindness of the Word, that the Lord should both make haste to help us and appear among men. For of His becoming Incarnate we were the object, and for our salvation He dealt so lovingly as to appear and be born even in a human body. Thus, then, God has made man, and willed that he should abide in incorruption; but men, having despised and rejected the contemplation of God, and devised and contrived evil for themselves (as was said in the former treatise), received the condemnation of death with which they had been threatened; and from thenceforth no longer remained as they were made, but were being corrupted according to their devices; and death had the mastery over them as king (Romans 5:14). For transgression of the commandment was turning them back to their natural state, so that just as they have had their being out of nothing, so also, as might be expected, they might look for corruption into nothing in the course of time. For if, out of a former normal state of non-existence, they were called into being by the Presence and loving-kindness of the Word, it followed naturally that when men were bereft of the knowledge of God and were turned back to what was not (for what is evil is not, but what is good is), they should, since they derive their being from God who IS, be everlastingly bereft even of being; in other words, that they should be disintegrated and abide in death and corruption. For man is by nature mortal, inasmuch as he is made out of what is not; but by reason of his likeness to Him that is (and if he still preserved this likeness by keeping Him in his knowledge) he would stay his natural corruption, and remain incorrupt; as Wisdom 6:18 says: ‘The taking heed to His laws is the assurance of immortality’; but being incorrupt, he would live henceforth as God, to which I suppose the divine Scripture refers, when it says: ‘I have said you are gods, and you are all sons of the most Highest; but you die like men, and fall as one of the princes.’” [St. Athanasius of Alexandria, On the Incarnation of the Word] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=498_0_1_0_C Wed, 01 Dec 2010 00:23:14 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=497_0_1_0_C “But for the searching of the Scriptures and true knowledge of them, an honorable life is needed, and a pure soul, and that virtue which is according to Christ; so that the intellect guiding its path by it, may be able to attain what it desires, and to comprehend it, in so far as it is accessible to human nature to learn concerning the Word of God. For without a pure mind and a modeling of the life after the saints, a man could not possibly comprehend the words of the saints. For just as, if a man wished to see the light of the sun, he would at any rate wipe and brighten his eye, purifying himself in some sort like what he desires, so that the eye, thus becoming light, may see the light of the sun; or as, if a man would see a city or country, he at any rate comes to the place to see it—thus he that would comprehend the mind of those who speak of God must needs begin by washing and cleansing his soul, by his manner of living, and approach the saints themselves by imitating their works; so that, associated with them in the conduct of a common life, he may understand also what has been revealed to them by God, and thenceforth, as closely knit to them, may escape the peril of the sinners and their fire at the day of judgment, and receive what is laid up for the saints in the kingdom of heaven, which eye has not seen (1 Corinthians 2:9), nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, whatsoever things are prepared for them that live a virtuous life, and love the God and Father, in Christ Jesus our Lord: through Whom and with Whom be to the Father Himself, with the Son Himself, in the Holy Spirit, honor and might and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” [St. Athanasius of Alexandria, On the Incarnation of the Word] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=497_0_1_0_C Tue, 23 Nov 2010 13:41:18 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=496_0_1_0_C [From the website of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America: goarch.org] The Feast of the Entrance into the Temple of Our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary is celebrated on November 21 each year. The Feast commemorates when as a young child, the Virgin Mary entered the Temple in Jerusalem. The birth and early life of the Virgin Mary is not recorded in the Gospels or other books of the New Testament, however this information can be found in a work dating from the second century known as the Book of James or Protevangelion. When Mary was three years old, Joachim and Anna decided that the time had come to fulfill their promise and to offer her to the Lord. Joachim gathered the young girls of the neighborhood to form an escort, and he made them go in front of Mary, carrying torches. Captivated by the torches, the young child followed joyfully to the Temple, not once looking back at her parents nor weeping as she was parted from them. The holy Virgin ran toward the Temple, overtaking her attendant maidens and threw herself into the arms of the High Priest Zacharias, who was waiting for her at the gate of the Temple with the elders. Zacharias blessed her saying, "It is in you that He has glorified your name in every generation. It is in you that He will reveal the Redemption that He has prepared for His people in the last days." Then, Zacharias brought the child into the Holy of Holies—a place where only the High Priest was permitted to enter once a year on the Day of Atonement. He placed her on the steps of the altar, and the grace of the Lord descended upon her. She arose and expressed her joy in a dance as wonder seized all who saw this happen. The Virgin Mary dwelt in the Temple for nine years until, reaching an age for marriage, she was taken from the Temple by the priests and elders and entrusted to Joseph as the guardian of her virginity. The Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple signifies her total dedication to God and her readiness for her future vocation as the Mother of the Incarnate Lord. This is a feast of anticipation. As honor is shown to Mary, the faithful are called to look forward to the Incarnation of Christ, celebrated in a little more than a month by the Feast of the Nativity on December 25. http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=496_0_1_0_C Tue, 16 Nov 2010 17:35:52 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=495_0_1_0_C “He [Christ] assumed a body capable of death, in order that it, through belonging to the Word Who is above all, might become in dying a sufficient exchange for all, and, itself remaining incorruptible through His indwelling, might thereafter put an end to corruption for others as well, by the grace of the resurrection.” (St. Athanasius of Alexandria, On the Incarnation, 9) http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=495_0_1_0_C Wed, 10 Nov 2010 11:20:39 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=493_0_1_0_C “Charity is the scope of all God's commands.” [St. John Chrysostom] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=493_0_1_0_C Tue, 02 Nov 2010 23:43:16 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=492_0_1_0_C 1. One of the greatest "ecumenical" difficulties the Orthodox Church has is that her thought forms and "terms of reference" are different from those of the West. And, since the ecumenical movement was shaped primarily by Western theological presuppositions and antecedents, its Orthodox participants were, from the very beginning, forced to express their positions and points of view within a theological framework alien to, or at least different from, the Orthodox tradition. This is especially true of ecclesiology. The Orthodox East has not been challenged either by the politico-ecclesiological controversies typical of the Western Middle Ages or by the Reformation. It remained free, therefore, from the "polemical" and "definitional" ecclesiology which underlies the Western De Ecclesia, whether in its Roman Catholic or Protestant form, and which conditions to a great degree the ecumenical debate on the Church. In our own "sources"– the Fathers, the Councils, the Liturgy – we do not find any formal definition of the Church. This is not because of any lack of ecclesiological interest and consciousness, but because the Church (in the Orthodox approach to her) does not exist, and therefore cannot be defined, apart from the very content of her life. The Church, in other terms, is not an "essence" or "being" distinct, as such, from God, man, and the world, but is the very reality of Christ in us and us in Christ, a new mode of God's presence and action in His creation, of creation's life in God. She is God's gift and man's response and appropriation of this gift. She is union and unity, knowledge, communion and transfiguration. And, since apart from the "content" the "form" has no meaning (cf. the reluctance of Orthodox theologians to discuss problems of "validity"), Orthodox ecclesiology rather than precise definitions or forms, conditions and modalities, is an attempt to present an icon of the Church as life in Christ – an icon which to be adequate and true must draw on all aspects and not only on the institutional ones of the Church. For the Church is an institution, but she is also a mystery, and it is mystery that gives meaning and life to institution and is, therefore, the object of ecclesiology. 2. Such an attempt must probably begin with the Church as new creation. Orthodox ecclesiology traditionally sees the beginning of the Church in paradise and her life as the manifestation of the Kingdom of God. "The history of the Church begins with the history of the world. The very creation of the world can be seen as preparation for the creation of the Church because the end for which the kingdom of nature was established is in the Kingdom of Grace" (Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow). Thus the basic dimensions of Orthodox ecclesiology are cosmic and eschatological. On the one hand, in Christ, the Incarnate Son of God, the new Adam, creation finds not only redemption and reconciliation with God, but also its fulfillment. Christ is the Logos, the Life of all life, and this life, which was lost because of sin, is restored and communicated in Christ, in His incarnation, death, resurrection, and glorification, to man and through him to the whole creation. Pentecost, the descent of the Holy Spirit, the giver of life, is not a mere establishment of an institution endowed with specific powers and authorities. It is the inauguration of the new age, the beginning of life eternal, the revelation of the kingdom which is "joy and peace in the Holy Spirit." The Church is the continuing presence of Pentecost as power of sanctification and transfiguration of all life, as grace which is knowledge of God, communion with Him and, in Him, with all that exists. The Church is creation as renewed by Christ and sanctified by the Holy Spirit. But, on the other hand, the kingdom which Christ inaugurates and the Holy Spirit fulfills is not of this world. "This world," by rejecting and condemning Christ, has condemned itself; no one, therefore, can enter the Kingdom without in a real sense dying to the world, i.e. rejecting it in its self-sufficiency, without putting all faith, hope, and love in the "age to come," in the "day without evening" which will dawn at the end of time. "You are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God." (Col. 3:3) This means that although the Church abides in the world, her real life is a constant expectation and anticipation of the world to come, a preparation for it, a passage into reality which in this world can be experienced only as future, as promise and token of things yet to come. The fruits of the Spirit (joy, peace, holiness, vision, knowledge) are real, but their reality is that of the joy which a traveler has when at the end of a long journey he finally sees the beautiful city where he is going – into which, however, he must yet enter. The Church reveals and truly bestows now the Kingdom which is to come, and creation becomes new when it dies to itself as "this world" and becomes thirst and hunger for the consummation for all things in God. 3. It is the mystery of the Church as new creation in its two dimensions – the cosmic and eschatological – that reveals to us the meaning and structure of the Church as institution. The nature of the institution can be termed sacramental, and this means not only a given or static inter-dependence between the visible and the invisible, nature and grace, the material and the spiritual, but also, and primarily, the dynamic essence of the Church as passage from the old into the new, from this world into the world to come, from the kingdom of nature into the Kingdom of Grace. The Church, as visible society and organization, belongs to this world; it is truly a part of it. And she must belong to it because she is "instituted" to represent and to stand for the world, to assume the whole creation. It belongs thus to the very "institution" of the Church to be a people, a community, a family, an organization, a nation, a hierarchy; to assume, in other words, all the natural forms of human existence in the world, in time and space. She is an organic continuity with the whole of human life, with the totality of human history. She is the pars pro toto of the whole creation. Yet she is all this in order to reveal and manifest the true meaning of creation as fulfillment in Christ, to announce to the world its end and the inauguration of the Kingdom. The "institution" is thus the sacrament of the Kingdom, the means by which the Church always becomes what she is, always fulfills herself as the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, as the Body of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Spirit, as the new life of the new creation. The basic act of this fulfillment, and therefore the true "form" of the Church, is the Eucharist: the sacrament in which the Church performs the passage, the passover, from this world into the Kingdom, offers in Christ the whole creation to God, seeing it as "heaven and earth full of His glory," and partakes of Christ's immortal life at His table in His Kingdom. 4. This sacramental nature of the Church reveals the real meaning of the universally-accepted notae by which we confess the Church to be One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic. Each of them applies to both the institution and its fulfillment, the form and the content, the promise and its realization. The Church is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic, and she must constantly fulfill herself as oneness, holiness, catholicity, and apostolicity. Her visible oneness is to be realized as the very content of the new life ("that they may be one as we are one") and as the unity of all in God and with God. The objective holiness of her life (the gifts of grace and sanctification which pour from all her acts) is to be fulfilled and realized in the personal holiness of her members. The catholicity (the absolute fullness of the gospel she announces and the life she communicates) is to grow into the "wholeness" of the faith and life of each community, of each Christian, and of the whole Church. Her apostolicity (her identity in time and space with the pleroma of the Church manifested at Pentecost) is to be preserved whole and undistorted by every generation, always and everywhere. 5. In this world the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church manifests itself as a plurality of churches, each one of which is both a part and a whole. It is a part because only in unity with all churches and in obedience to the universal truth can it be the Church; yet it is also a whole because in each church, by virtue of her unity with the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, the whole Christ is present, the fullness of grace is given, the catholicity of new life is revealed. The visible unity of all churches as the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church is expressed and preserved in the unity of faith, the unity of sacramental structure, and the unity of life. The unity of faith has its norm and content in the universal tradition. The unity of sacramental structure is preserved through the apostolic succession, which is the visible and objective continuity of the Church's life and order in time and space. The unity of life manifests itself in the active concern of all churches for each other and of all them together for the Church's mission in the world. 6. The organ of unity in the Church is the episcopate. "The Church is in the Bishop." This means that in each church the personal ministry of the bishop is to preserve the fullness of the Church, i.e., her identity and continuity with the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church; to be the teacher of the universal traditions; the offerer of the Eucharist which is the sacrament of unity; and the pastor of the people of God on its pilgrimage to the Kingdom. By virtue of his consecration by other bishops and of his belonging to the universal episcopate, he represents, he makes present and unites his church to all churches and represents all other churches, and therefore the whole Church, to his own church. In him each church is thus truly a part of the whole Church and the whole Church is truly present in each church. In the Orthodox tradition, the unity of the episcopate, and especially the organ of this unity, a synod or council of bishops, is the supreme expression of the Church's teaching and pastoral function – the inspired mouth of the whole Church. But, "The Bishop is in the Church," and this means that neither one bishop nor the episcopate as a whole are above the Church, or (to quote here a famous formula) act and teach ex sese et non ex consensu Ecclesiae. It is rather the bishop's complete identification with and his total obedience to the consensus Ecclesiae, to her teaching, life, and holiness, as well as his organic unity with the people of God, that makes the bishop the teacher and the guardian of the truth. For in the Church no one is without the Holy Spirit, and according to the Encyclical of Eastern Patriarchs, the preservation of the truth is entrusted to the whole people of the Church. Thus the Church is both hierarchical and conciliary, and the two principles are not only not opposed to each other but are in their interdependence essential for the full expression of the mystery of the Church. 7. The One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church must necessarily exist in the world as an orderly and visibly-united Church Universal, and it is the function and charism of the primacies to serve as centers of communion, unity, and coordination. There exist local and regional primacies (metropolitans, patriarchs) and a universal primacy. Orthodox ecclesiology has never denied that traditionally the latter belonged to the Church of Rome. It is, however, the interpretation of this primacy in terms of a personal infallibility of the Roman pontiff and of his universal jurisdiction power that led to its rejection by the Orthodox East. 8. The Orthodox Church claims to have preserved unaltered and full the faith and the traditions "once delivered unto the saints." In face of the tragic divisions among Christians, she affirms that the only way to reunion is the restoration of that unity of faith which alone enables each church to see all other churches as the same and One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. 9. The Church is both in statu patriae and in statu viae. As "Christ in us," as the manifestation of the Kingdom and the sacrament of the age to come, her life is already filled with the "joy and peace of the Holy Spirit," and it is this paschal joy that she expresses and receives in worship, in the holiness of her members, and in the communion of the saints. As "we in Christ," she is in pilgrimage and expectation, in repentance and struggle. And above everything else, she is mission, for her belonging to the world to come, the joy that in Christ has entered the world, and the vision of the transfigured world are given to her so that she may in this world witness to Christ and may save and redeem in Him the whole creation. Paper read at the Institute for Contemporary Theology, Montreal, July 1965. St. Vladimir's Seminary Quarterly, Vol. 11, No. 1, 1967, pp. 35-39. http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=492_0_1_0_C Tue, 26 Oct 2010 21:00:31 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=491_0_1_0_C St. John Chrysostom refers to the Church as the Theater where Christians live up to their full potential and identity granted to them by God unlike the worldly theater comprised of actors with masks, makeup and costumes, who mar their God-given beauty. Chrysostom states: "Both men, (Lazarus and the Rich Man) departed to that place where everything is true. The stage sets were removed and the masks were taken off. In a theater of this world at mid-day the stage is set and many actors enter, playing parts, wearing masks on their faces, retelling some old story, narrating the events. One becomes a philosopher, though he is not a philosopher. Another becomes a king, though he is not a king, but has the appearance of a king for the story. Another becomes a physician without knowing how to handle even a piece of wood, but wearing the garments of a physician. Another becomes a slave, though he is free; another a teacher, though he does not even know his letters. They appear something other than what they are, and they do not appear what they really are. One appears to be a physician, another appears to be a philosopher by wearing a hairy mask, and another appears to be a soldier by bearing the equipment of a soldier. The appearance of the mask deceives us, but it does not falsify the nature, for it truly changes the character which is represented. As long as the audience remains in their seats, the masks are valid; but when evening overtakes them, and the play is ended, and everyone goes out, the masks are cast aside. He who is a king inside the theater is found to be a coppersmith outside. The masks are removed, the deceit departs, the truth is revealed. He who is a free man inside the theater is found to be a slave outside; for, as I said, the deceit is inside, but truth is outside. Evening overtakes them, the play is ended, the truth appears. So it is also in life and its end. The present world is a theater, the conditions of men are roles: wealth and poverty, ruler and ruled, and so forth. When this day is cast aside, and that terrible night comes, or rather day, night indeed for sinners, but day for the righteous, when the play is ended, when the masks are removed, when each person is judged with his works-not each person with his wealth, not each person with his office, not each person with his authority, not each person with his power, but each person with his works, whether he is a ruler or a king, a woman or a man, when He requires an account of our life and our good deeds, not the weight of our reputation, not the slightness of our poverty, not the tyranny of our disdain-give me your deeds if you are a slave but nobler than a free person, if you are a woman but braver than a man. When the masks are removed, then the truly rich and the truly poor are revealed. When the play ends, one of us looking out an upper window sees the man who is a philosopher inside the theater but a coppersmith outside, and says, “Hey! Wasn’t this man a philosopher inside? Outside I see that he is a coppersmith. Wasn’t this other man a king inside? Outside I see that he is some humble person. Wasn’t that man rich inside? Outside I see that he is poor.” The same thing happens when this life ends." http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=491_0_1_0_C Tue, 19 Oct 2010 13:52:47 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=490_0_1_0_C “Prayer is the act from which all other good comes.” (The Orthodox Church) “When tomorrow comes, it will supply what you need, if you seek above all else the kingdom of heaven and the righteousness of God; for the Lord says: ‘Seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things as well will be given unto you.’” (The Holy Scriptures) “By its action it is the reconciliation of man with God, the mother and daughter of tears, a bridge for crossing temptations, a wall of protection from afflictions, a crushing of conflicts, boundless activity, the spring of virtues, the source of spiritual gifts, invisible progress, food of the soul, the enlightening of the mind, an axe for despair, a demonstration of hope, the release from sorrow.” (Abba Agathon) http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=490_0_1_0_C Tue, 12 Oct 2010 13:50:34 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=489_0_1_0_C For such is the loving-kindness of God; He never turns his face away from a sincere repentance, but if any one has pushed on to the very extremity of wickedness, and chooses to return thence towards the path of virtue, God accepts and welcomes, and does everything so as to restore him to his former position. And He does what is yet more merciful; for even should any one not manifest complete repentance, he does not pass by one which is small and insignificant, but assigns a great reward even to this; which is evident from what Esaias the prophet says concerning the people of the Jews, speaking on this wise: "On account of his sin I put him to pain for a little while, and smote him, and turned my face away from him, and he was pained, and walked sorrowfully, and then I healed him, and comforted him." And we might cite as another witness that most ungodly king, who was given over to sin by the influence of his wife: yet when he only sorrowed, and put on sackcloth, and condemned his offences, he so won for himself the mercy of God, as to be released from all the evils which were impending over him. For God said to Elias "Seest thou how Ahab is pricked in the heart before my face? I will not bring the evil upon him in his own days, because he hath wept before me." And after this again, Manasses, having exceeded all in fury and tyranny, and having subverted the legal form of worship, and shut up the temple, and caused the deceit of idolatry to flourish, and having become more ungodly than all who were before him, when he afterwards repented, was ranked amongst the friends of God. Now if, looking to the magnitude of his own iniquities, he had despaired of restoration and repentance, he would have missed all which he afterwards obtained: but as it was, looking to the boundlessness of God's tender mercy instead of the enormity of his transgressions, and having broken in sunder the bonds of the devil, he rose up and contended with him, and finished the good course. And not only by what was done to these men, but also by the words of the prophet does God destroy the counsels of despair, speaking. on this wise: "To-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation." Now that expression "to-day," may be uttered at every time of life, even on the verge of old age, if you desire it: for repentance is judged not by quantity of time, but by disposition of the soul. For the Ninevites did not need many days to blot out their sin, but the short space of one day availed to efface all their iniquity: and the robber also did not take a long time to effect his entrance into Paradise, but in such a brief moment as one might occupy in uttering a single word, did he wash off all the sins which he had committed in his whole life, and received the prize bestowed by the divine approval even before the Apostles. And we also see the martyrs obtain glorious crowns for themselves in the course, not of many years, but of a few days, and often in a single day only. Wherefore we have need of zeal in every direction, and much preparation of mind: and if we so order our conscience as to hate our former wickedness, and choose the contrary path with as much energy as God desires and commands, we shall not have anything less on account of the short space of time: many at least who were last have far outstripped those who were first. For to have fallen is not a grievous thing, but to remain prostrate after talling, and not to get up again; and, playing the coward and the sluggard, to conceal feebleness of moral purpose under the reasoning of despair. To whom also the prophet spoke in perplexity saying "Doth he who falleth not rise up, or he who turneth away not turn back?" But if you inquire of me for instances of persons who have fallen away after having believed, all these things have been said with reference to such persons, for he who has fallen belonged formerly to those who were standing, not to those who were prostrate; for how should one in that condition fall? But other things also shall be said, partly by means of parables, partly by plainer deeds and words. Now that sheep which had got separated from the ninety and nine, and then was brought back again, represents to us nothing else than the fall and return of the faithful; for it was a sheep not of some alien flock, but belonging to the same number as the rest, and was for merly pastured by the same shepherd, and it strayed on no common straying, but wandered away to the mountains and in valleys, that is to say some long journey, far distant from the right path. [John Chrysostom, Two Exhortations to Theodore after his Fall, Epistle 1] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=489_0_1_0_C Mon, 04 Oct 2010 14:56:37 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=488_0_1_0_C 1) St Gregory Palamas (1296-1359) 'This is why no one should give way to despair, even though the devil finds various means by which to insinuate it not only into those who live carelessly but also into those who practise the ascetic life. If, then, the time of this life is time for repentance, the very fact that a sinner still lives is a pledge that God will accept whoever desires to return to Him. Free will is always part and parcel of this present life. And it lies within the power of free will to choose or to reject the road of life or the road of death ... for it can pursue whichever it wishes. Where, then, are the grounds for despair, since all of us can at all times lay hold of eternal life whenever we want to?' (To the Most Reverend Nun Xenia, 17; in the Philokalia, vol. iv, p. 299.) 2) St Hesychios the Priest (8th/9th cent.) 'Let us learn humility from Christ, humiliation from David, and from Peter to shed shed tears over what has happened; but let us also learn to avoid the despair of Samson, Judas, and that wisest of men, Solomon.' (On Watchfulness and Holiness, 38; in the Philokalia, vol. i, p. 169.) 3) St Symeon the New Theologian (949-1022) 'Bodily listlessness and torpor, which affect the soul as a result of our laziness and negligence, not only make us abandon our normal rule of prayer, but also darken the mind and fill it with despondency. Then blasphemous and cowardly thoughts arise in the heart. Indeed, the person tempted by the demon of listlessness cannot even enter his usual place of prayer; he grows sluggish, and absurd thoughts directed against the Creator of all things arise in his mind. Aware of the cause of all this and why it has happened to you, resolutely enter your normal place of prayer and, falling down before the God of love, ask with a compunctive and aching heart, full of tears, to be freed from the weight of listlessness and from your pernicious thoughts. If you knock hard and insistently, this release will soon be given to you.' (One Hundred and Fifty-Three Practical and Theological Texts, 49; in the Philokalia, vol. iv, p. 34.) http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=488_0_1_0_C Tue, 28 Sep 2010 18:33:22 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=487_0_1_0_C “Do not be surprised if you fall back into your old ways every day. Do not be disheartened, but resolve to do something positive about it; and, without question, the angel who stands guard over you will honor your perseverance.” (The Ladder to Paradise) “Do not be surprised that you fall every day; do not give up, but stand your ground courageously. And assuredly, the angel who guards you will honor your patience.” (The Ladder to Paradise) [St John of the Ladder (6th/7th century)] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=487_0_1_0_C Mon, 20 Sep 2010 15:24:57 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=486_0_1_0_C + In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Have mercy on me, O God; according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin, for I acknowledge my transgression, and my sin is ever before me. Against Thee, Thee only have I sinned and done this evil in Thy sight, that Thou mightest be justified when Thou speakest and prevail when Thou art judged. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquities and in sin did my mother bear me. But behold, Thou desirest truth in my innermost parts, and in my hidden parts Thou shalt make me to understand wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than the snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice. Turn Thy face from my sin and put out all mine iniquities far from me. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Thy presence, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and uphold me with Thy steadfast Spirit. Then shall I teach transgressors Thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto Thee. Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of Thy righteousness. Open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Thy praise. For shouldest Thou desire sacrifice, I would give it Thee; but Thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifice of God is a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart -- these, O God, shalt Thou not despise. Do good in Thy good pleasure to Sion; buildest Thou up the walls of Jerusalem. Then shalt Thou be pleased with the sacrifice of righteousness, with oblation and whole-burnt offerings. Then shall they offer young bullocks upon Thine altar. Amen. http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=486_0_1_0_C Tue, 14 Sep 2010 23:13:21 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=485_0_1_0_C “After the sign of the Cross, grace immediately thus operates, and composes all the members and the heart, so that the soul from its abounding gladness seems as a youth that knows not evil.” [St. Macarius of Egypt (c. 300 - c. 390 AD)] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=485_0_1_0_C Tue, 07 Sep 2010 17:23:08 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=484_0_1_0_C 1. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up" (John 3:14). And just exactly as all who were bitten by the serpents looked upon the bronze serpent which was suspended and were healed, thus also every Christian who believes in our Christ and has recourse to His life-bearing wounds, who eats His Flesh and drinks His all-holy Blood, is cured of the bites of the spiritual serpent of sin and by this most holy nourishment is made to live unto the renewal of a new creation, that is, new life in harmony with His life-giving commandments. (Elder Ephraim of Philotheou Mount Athos, "Counsels from the Holy Mountain") 2. "The Cross, is wood which lifts us up and makes us great ... The Cross uprooted us from the depths of evil and elevated us to the summit of virtue". (St John Chrysostom) 3. ... The holy Fathers relate that when the thief of the Gospel, too, came to the gates of the Kingdom, the Archangel with the flaming sword wanted to chase him away, but he showed him the Cross. Immediately the fire-bearing Archangel himself withdrew and permitted the thief to enter. Understand here not the wooden cross. But which? The Cross in which the chief Apostle Paul boasts and concerning which he writes, 'I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus (Gal. 6:17).' (A Collection of Letters to Nuns by St. Anatoly of Optina) 4. But we are able to see Christ's inexpressible love for man not only from the cross itself but also from the words which He spoke whilst upon the cross. At the very time when He was nailed and they were mocking Him, deriding Him and spitting upon Him, He said: "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do" (Luke 23:34)... At the same time that they were saying, "If You are the Son of God save Yourself," He was accomplishing everything necessary to save these same ones who were reproaching Him. ... He did forgive them, if they wished to repent, because if He had not forgiven them this sin, Paul would not have become an apostle;' if He had not forgiven them this sin, the three thousand and the five thousand, and the many other thousands, would not have immediately believed. (Homily by St. John Chrysostom, “Concerning the Cross and the Thief” ) 5. Did you see how baptism is a cross? Learn that even Christ called baptism the cross when He used the name of baptism interchangeably [with that of the cross]. He called your baptism a cross. 'I call my baptism a cross,' he says. Where does He say this? 'I have a baptism to be baptized with, of which you do not know.' And how is it clear that He is speaking of the cross? The sons of Zebedee came up to Him - rather, the mother of the sons of Zebedee, saying 'Command that these my two sons may sit, one at thy right and and one at thy left hand, in thy kingdom.' A mother's request, even if it was an inconsiderate one! How then did Christ answer? 'Can you drink of the cup of which I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?' You see that He called the cross a baptism. (St. John Chrysostom, Baptismal Instructions) 6. Do not seek the perfection of the law in human virtues, for it is not found perfect in them. Its perfection is hidden in the Cross of Christ. (St. Hesychius the Priest) 7. Far be it for me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Gal. 6:14). Truly this symbol is thought despicable; but it is so in the world's reckoning, and among men; in Heaven and among the faithful it is the highest glory. Poverty too is despicable, but it is our boast; and to be cheaply thought of by the public is a matter of laughter to them, but we are elated by it. So too is the Cross our boast. He does not say, `I boast not,' nor, `I will not boast,' but, `Far be it from me that I should,' as if he abominated it as absurd, and invoked the aid of God in order to his success therein. And what is the boast of the Cross? That Christ for my sake took on Him the form of a slave, and bore His sufferings for me the slave, the enemy, the unfeeling one; yea, He so loved me as to give Himself up to a curse for me. What can be comparable to this? (St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Galatians) 8. Glory, O Lord, to the power of Thy Cross, which never fails! When the enemy oppresses me with a sinful thought or feeling, and I, lacking freedom in my heart, make the sign of the Cross several times with faith, suddenly my sin falls away from me, the compulsion vanishes, and I find myself free… For the faithful the Cross is a mighty power which delivers from all evils, from the malice of the invisible foe. (St. John of Kronstadt) 9. In Paradise of old, the tree stripped me bare, for by the eating thereof, the enemy brought in death. But now the most holy tree of the Cross that doth clothe all men with the garment of life hath been set up on earth, and all of the world is filled with most boundless joy. Seeing it exalted, ye people, now, let us the faithful all cry out with one accord to God in faith: Thy house is full of glory, O Lord. (Feast of the Elevation of the Holy Cross - Sessional Hymn of the Canon) 10. Many indeed are the wondrous happenings of that time: God hanging from a Cross, the sun made dark, and again flaming out; for it was fitting that creation should mourn with its Creator. The Temple veil rent, blood and water flowing from His side: the one as from a man, the other as from What was above man; the earth was shaken, the rocks shattered because of the Rock; the dead risen to bear witness of the final and universal resurrection of the dead. The happenings at the Sepulchre, and after the Sepulchre, who can fittingly recount them? Yet not one of them can be compared to the miracle of my salvation. A few drops of Blood renew the whole world, and do for all men what the rennet does for milk: joining us and binding us together. (St. Gregory the Theologian) 11. O Saviour, the true sweetness, Who of old didst sweeten the bitter waters of Marah, thereby prefiguring at that time the wood of the divine Cross: How wast Thou nailed thereto, O Sinless One, and wast given gall to drink and wast pierced in the side, and didst pour forth the Blood and water of forgiveness, unto the refashioning of mortal nature? Wherefore, we glorify Thine ineffable mercy, and we entreat Thee: O Lord, in the season of the fast, grant us the fear of thee, and the forgiveness of our offences, and great mercy. (Vespers Stichera for Thursday of the 4th Week) 12. Of course, it would be easier to get to paradise with a full stomach, all snuggled up in a soft feather-bed, but what is required is to carry one's cross along the way, for the kingdom of God is not attained by enduring one or two troubles, but many! (Elder Anthony of Optina) 13. The Most High planted in the middle of Paradise The thrice blessed wood, the gift of life for us, In order that, in approaching it, Adam might find eternal and immortal life, But he did not strive earnestly to know this life, And he failed to attain it, and revealed death. However, the robber, seeing how the plant in Eden Had been beautifully transplanted in Golgotha, Recognized the life in it and said to himself: `This is what my father lost formerly In Paradise.' (St Romanos the Melodist - On the Adoration at the Cross) 14. The first duty of a Christian, of a disciple and follower of Jesus Christ, is to deny oneself. To deny oneself means to give up one's bad habits, to root out of the heart all that ties us to the world; not to cherish bad desires and thoughts; to quench and suppress bad thoughts; to avoid occasions of sin; not to do or desire anything from self-love but to do everything out of love for God. To deny oneself means, according to the Apostle Paul, to be dead to sin and the world, but alive to God. (St. Innocent of Alaska, Indication of the Way into the Kingdom of Heaven) 15. The one who knows God will follow the Lord's footsteps, bearing the cross of the Saviour. It is said, "The world is crucified to him and he to the world." The Lord says, "He who loses his life will save it." We can "lose our lives" in one of two ways. First, we can risk our lives just as the Lord did for us. Secondly, we can separate our lives from the customary things of this world. Bearing the cross means to separate our souls from the delights and pleasures of this life. If you do this, you will find your life again - resting in the hope of what is to come. Dying to ourselves means being content with the necessities of life. When we want more than these necessities it is easy to sin. (St. Clement of Alexandria in “The One Who knows God”) 16. What does it mean to take up your cross? It means the willing acceptance, at the hand of Providence, of every means of healing, bitter though it may be, that is offered. Do great catastrophies fall on you? Be obedient to God's will, as Noah was. Is sacrifice demanded of you? Give yourself into God's hands with the same faith as Abraham had when he went to sacrifice his son. Is your property ruined? Do your children die suddenly? Suffer it all with patience, cleaving to God in your heart, as Job did. Do your friends forsake you, and you find yourself surrounded by enemies? Bear it all without grumbling, and with faith that God's help is at hand, as the apostles did. (Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich, “Homilies, Vol. 1”) http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=484_0_1_0_C Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:48:07 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=483_0_1_0_C “What is a merciful heart? It is the heart's burning for the sake of the entire creation: for men, birds, animals, and for every created thing. And by the recollection and sight of them, the eyes of a merciful man pour forth abundant tears. From the strong and vehement mercy which grips his heart and from his great compassion, his heart is humbled and he cannot bear to hear or see any injury or slight sorrow in creation. For this reason he continually offers up tearful prayer, even for irrational beasts, for the enemies of the truth and for those who harm him, that they be protected and receive mercy…because of the great compassion that burns in his heart without measure in the likeness of God.” http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=483_0_1_0_C Mon, 23 Aug 2010 00:26:14 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=482_0_1_0_C •January 6: The Feast of Epiphany •February 2: The Presentation of Christ •Great Lent, Holy Week, and Pascha •The Annunciation •The Ascension of Christ •Holy Pentecost •August 6: The Transfiguration of Christ •August 15: The Dormition of the Theotokos •September 8: The Nativity of the Theotokos •September 14: The Exaltation of the Cross •November 21: The Entrance Into the Temple of the Theotokos •December 25: The Nativity of Christ (taken from the website of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America goarch.org) http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=482_0_1_0_C Wed, 18 Aug 2010 19:31:24 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=481_0_1_0_C “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. With reverence and many lights, and chanting burial hymns, the Apostles took up that God-receiving body and brought it to the sepulchre, while the Angels from Heaven chanted with them, and sent forth her who is higher than the Cherubim. But one Jew, moved by malice, audaciously stretched forth his hand upon the bed and immediately received from divine judgment the wages of his audacity. Those daring hands were severed by an invisible blow. But when he repented and asked forgiveness, his hands were restored. When they had reached the place called Gethsemane, they buried there with honor the all-immaculate body of the Theotokos, which was the source of Life. But on the third day after the burial, when they were eating together, and raised up the artos (bread) in Jesus' Name, as was their custom, the Theotokos appeared in the air, saying "Rejoice" to them. From this they learned concerning the bodily translation of the Theotokos into the Heavens. These things has the Church received from the traditions of the Fathers, who have composed many hymns out of reverence, to the glory of the Mother of our God.” Apolytikion in the First Tone: In birth, you preserved your virginity; in death, you did not abandon the world, O Theotokos. As mother of life, you departed to the source of life, delivering our souls from death by your intercessions. [Taken with much gratitude from the website of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America goarch.org] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=481_0_1_0_C Thu, 12 Aug 2010 14:18:18 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=480_0_1_0_C “If they insist on saying, ‘where the Virgin is called Theotokos in the Scripture,’ let them clearly hear the angel proclaiming this piece of good news to the shepherd and saying: “For today to you a Savior is born, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). He does not say, ‘Who shall be Lord’ or ‘in whom the Lord shall dwell,’ but ‘who is Lord.’ Behold, then, the angel openly preaches the good news that the one born is Lord. And then, he supplies, as it were, a sign to them of the vision of the Lord, ‘You shall find a baby in swaddling clothes lying in a manger’ (Luke 2:12). Peter also preached the same things as the angel, when he came to Cornelius and said, ‘He sent the Logos to the sons of Israel proclaiming peace through Jesus Christ; He is Lord of all’ (Acts 10:36). Do you see how the Logos is said to have been sent instead of the saving message of Jesus Christ? And how, when he showed to them who Jesus Christ might be, he said, ‘He is Lord of all?’ Do you see that the baby [is called] Lord both by the angel and by Peter? Undoubtedly, therefore, she, who gave birth of the Lord, is Theotokos. Similarly, she was addressed by the mother of the blessed Baptist, who was moved by the Holy spirit: ‘For Elizabeth, it says, was filled with the Holy Spirit an cried: Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb; why has it happened to me that the Mother of my Lord should come to me’ (Luke 1: 41-43)? Who is so insane as not to want to call with the Scriptures the holy Virgin Theotokos? Let them not, therefore, disturb the hearing of those of greater integrity by speaking about a child and a baby lest little by little, they reject the whole event of his advent. For he had been called by the angel both baby and Lord.” [St. Cyril of Alexandria, Against Those who are Unwilling to Confess that the Holy Virgin is Theotokos] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=480_0_1_0_C Tue, 10 Aug 2010 18:10:21 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=479_0_1_0_C “We confess that he [Jesus Christ] is the Son, begotten of God the Father, and Only-begotten God; and although according to his own nature he was not subject to suffering, yet he suffered for us in the flesh according to the Scriptures, and although impassible, yet in his Crucified Body he made his own the sufferings of his own flesh; and by the grace of God he tasted death for all: he gave his own Body thereto, although he was by nature himself the life and the resurrection, in order that, having trodden down death by his unspeakable power, first in his own flesh, he might become the first born from the dead, and the first-fruits of them that slept. And that he might make a way for the nature of man to attain incorruption, by the grace of God (as we just now said), he tasted death for every man, and after three days rose again, having despoiled hell. So although it is said that the resurrection of the dead was through man, yet we understand that man to have been the Word of God, and the power of death was loosened through him, and he shall come in the fullness of time as the One Son and Lord, in the glory of the Father, in order to judge the world in righteousness, as it is written.” [St. Cyril of Alexandria, Third Epistle to Nestorius] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=479_0_1_0_C Tue, 03 Aug 2010 14:49:32 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=478_0_1_0_C “The dominions and the thrones, the rulers, the principalities and the powers, the cherubim and the fearful seraphim glorify thy Dominion” (Vespers Sticheron, Tone 1). The sacred Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos marks her repose, which was followed by the translation of her sacred body three days later into heaven. This feast, therefore, marks her soul being commended into her Son's hands and the short sojourn of her body in the tomb. Unlike the Resurrection of Christ, the mysterious character of her death, burial, resurrection and ascension were not the subject of apostolic teachings, yet they were recorded by the tradition of the Holy Orthodox Church and writings of the Church Fathers. The Dormition of the Theotokos took place while Apostle Thomas was preaching the gospel in India. The other Apostles had been caught up from various lands on the clouds of heaven, and were transported to Gethsemane, to the bier of the all-blessed Virgin. This was permitted by the will of God, so the faithful might be assured that the Mother of God was bodily assumed into heaven. For just as they were more greatly assured of the Resurrection of Christ, through the disbelief of Thomas, so did they learned of the bodily assumption into heaven of the all-pure Virgin Mary through the delay of Thomas. On the third day after the burial St. Thomas was suddenly caught up in a cloud in India and transported to a place in the air above the tomb of the Virgin. From that vantage point, he beheld the translation of her body into the heavens, and cried out to her, "Whither goest thou, O all-holy one?" She removed her girdle and gave it to him saying, "Receive this, my friend." And then she was gone. He then descended to find the other disciples keeping watch over the sepulchre of the Theotokos. He sat down beside them, with the girdle in his hand, greatly saddened that he had not been there when she reposed, as had been the other Apostles. Hence, he said, "We are all disciples of the Master; we all preach the same thing; we are all servants of the one Lord, Jesus Christ. How, then, is it that ye were counted worthy to behold the repose of His Mother, and I was not? Am I not an Apostle? Can it be that God is not pleased with my preaching? I beseech you, my fellow disciples: open the tomb, that I also may look upon her remains, and embrace them, and bid her farewell!" The Apostles took pity on St. Thomas and opened the tomb. All were aghast when they found it empty, not realizing that moments before she had been bodily transported to paradise to be the mediatress of Christians. All that remained were her burial clothes, which emitted a wonderful unearthly fragrance. The Feast's kontakion speaks of her as an unfailing hope and mediation, reminding us of her intercessory role in paradise. Neither the tomb nor death had power over the Theotokos, who is ever watchful in her prayers and in whose intercessions lies unfailing hope. For as the Mother of Life she has been translated unto life by Him Who dwelt in her ever-virgin womb. [Reference: The Life of the Virgin Mary, The Theotokos published by Holy Apostles Convent and Dormition Skete, Colorado USA, 1989, ISBN 0-944359-03-5] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=478_0_1_0_C Tue, 27 Jul 2010 12:20:02 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=477_0_1_0_C “It is truly right to bless you, O Theotokos, ever blessed and most pure, and the Mother of our God. More honorable than the Cherubim, and beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim, without defilement you gave birth to God the Word. True Theotokos we magnify you.” — Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom “If one does not acknowledge Mary as Theotokos, he is estranged from God.” — St. Gregory of Nazianzus (Epistle 101) “The golden incenser is the Virgin, and its pleasant scent is our Saviour.” — Orthodox Chant http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=477_0_1_0_C Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:47:21 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=476_0_1_0_C "The potency of prayer has subdued the strength of fire. It has bridled the rage of lions, hushed anarchy to rest, extinguished wars, appeased the elements, expelled demons, burst the chains of death, expanded the gates of heaven, assuaged diseases, repelled frauds, rescued cities from destruction, stayed the sun in its course, and arrested the progress of the thunderbolt." [St. John Chysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=476_0_1_0_C Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:10:40 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=475_0_1_0_C “The greatest truths are the simplest, and so are the greatest men.” [Inspired by St. Anthony the Great] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=475_0_1_0_C Tue, 13 Jul 2010 15:20:10 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=474_0_1_0_C Though you should name infinite treasures, none of them is comparable to a genuine friend. And first let us speak of the great delight of friendship itself. A friend rejoices at seeing his friend, and expands with joy. He is knit to him with a union of soul that affords unspeakable pleasure. And if he only calls him to remembrance, he is roused in mind, and transported. I speak of genuine friends, men of one soul, who would even die for each other, who love fervently. Do not, thinking of those who barely love, who are table-companions, mere nominal friends, suppose that my discourse is refuted. If any one has a friend such as I speak of, he will acknowledge the truth of my words. He, though he sees his friend every day, is not satiated. For him he prays for the same things as for himself. I know one, who calling upon holy men in behalf of his friend, besought them to pray first for him, and then for himself. So dear a thing is a good friend, that times and places are loved on his account. For as bodies that are luminous spread their radiance to the neighboring places, so also friends leave a grace of their own in the places to which they have come. And oftentimes in the absence of friends, as we have stood on those places, we have wept, and remembering the days which we passed together, have sighed. It is not possible to represent by speech, how great a pleasure the intercourse with friends affords. But those only know, who have experience. From a friend we may both ask a favor, and receive one without suspicion. When they enjoin anything upon us, then we feel indebted to them; but when they are slow to do this, then we are sorrowful. We have nothing which is not theirs. Often despising all things here, on their account we are not willing to depart hence; and they are more longed for by us than the light. For, in good truth, a friend is more to be longed for than the light; I speak of a genuine one. And wonder not: for it were better for us that the sun should be extinguished, than that we should be deprived of friends; better to live in darkness, than to be without friends. And I will tell you why. Because many who see the sun are in darkness, but they can never be even in tribulation, who abound in friends. I speak of spiritual friends, who prefer nothing to friendship. Such was Paul, who would willingly have given his own soul, even though not asked, nay would have plunged into hell for them. With so ardent a disposition ought we to love. I wish to give you an example of friendship. Friends, that is, friends according to Christ, surpass fathers and sons. For tell me not of friends of the present day, since this good thing also has past away with others. But consider, in the time of the Apostles, I speak not of the chief men, but of the believers themselves generally; “all,” he says, “were of one heart and soul: and not one of them said that aught of the things which he possessed was his own…and distribution was made unto each, according as any one had need.” (Acts 4:32, 35.) There were then no such words as “mine” and “thine.” This is friendship, that a man should not consider his goods his own, but his neighbor’s, that his possessions belong to another; that he should be as careful of his friend’s soul as of his own; and the friend likewise. And where is it possible, somebody says, that such a one should be found? Because we have not the will; for it is possible. If it were not possible, neither would Christ have commanded it; he would not have discoursed so much concerning love. A great thing is friendship, and how great, no one can learn, and no discourse represent, but experience itself. He who loves does not wish to command, nor to rule, but is rather obliged when he is ruled and commanded. He wishes rather to bestow a favor than to receive one, for he loves, and is so affected, as not having satisfied his desire. He is not so much gratified when good is done to him, as when he is doing good. For he wishes to oblige, rather than to be indebted to him; or rather he wishes both to be beholden to him, and to have him his debtor. And he wishes both to bestow favors, and not to seem to bestow them, but himself to be the debtor. I think that perhaps many of you do not understand what has been said. He wishes to be the first in bestowing benefits, and not to seem to be the first, but to be returning a kindness. Which God also has done in the case of men. He purposed to give His own Son for us; but that He might not seem to bestow a favor, but to be indebted to us, He commanded Abraham to offer his son that whilst doing a great kindness, He might seem to do nothing great. For when indeed there is no love, we both upbraid men with our kindnesses and we exaggerate little ones; but when there is love, we both conceal them and wish to make the great appear small, that we may not seem to have our friend for a debtor, but ourselves to be debtors to him, in having him our debtor. I know that the greater part do not understand what is said, and the cause is, that I am speaking of a thing which now dwells in heaven. As therefore if I were speaking of any plant growing in India, of which no one had ever had any experience, no speech would avail to represent it, though I should utter ten thousand words: so also now whatever things I say, I say in vain, for no one will be able to understand me. This is a plant that is planted in heaven, having for its branches not heavy-clustered pearls, but a virtuous life, much more acceptable than they. What pleasure would you speak of, the foul and the honorable? But that of friendship excelleth them all, though you should speak of the sweetness of honey. For that satiates, but a friend never does, so long as he is a friend; nay, the desire of him rather increases, and such pleasure never admits of satiety. And a friend is sweeter than the present life. Many therefore after the death of their friends have not wished to live any longer. With a friend one would bear even banishment; but without a friend would not choose to inhabit even his own country. With a friend even poverty is tolerable, but without him both health and riches are intolerable. He has another self: I am straitened, because I cannot instance by an example. For I should in that case make it appear that what has been said is much less than it ought to be. And these things indeed are so here. But from God the reward of friendship is so great, that it cannot be expressed. He gives a reward, that we may love one another, the thing for which we owe a reward. “Pray,” He says, “and receive a reward,” for that for which we owe a reward, because we ask for good things. “For that which you ask,” He says, “receive a reward. Fast, and receive a reward. Be virtuous, and receive a reward,” though you rather owe a reward. But as fathers, when they have made their children virtuous, then further give them a reward; for they are debtors, because they have afforded them a pleasure; so also God acts. “Receive a reward,” He says, “if thou be virtuous, for thou delightest thy Father, and for this I owe thee a reward. But if thou be evil, not so: for thou provokest Him that begot thee.” Let us not then provoke God, but let us delight Him, that we may obtain the kingdom of Heaven, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be the glory and the strength, world without end. Amen. [St. John Chrysostom, Homily 2 on 1 Thessalonians 1:8-10.] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=474_0_1_0_C Thu, 01 Jul 2010 19:09:23 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=473_0_1_0_C “Not only is it wonderful that He forgives us our sins, but also that He neither uncovers them nor does He make them stand forth clearly revealed. Nor does He force us to come forward and publicly proclaim our misdeeds, but He bids us to make our defence to Him alone and to confess our sins to Him. And yet, if any judge of a worldly tribunal were to tell some captured highwayman or grave robber to confess his crime and be excused from paying the penalty, this prisoner would with all alacrity admit the truth and scorn the disgrace in his desire to go free. But this is not the case in baptism. God forgives our sins and does not force us to make a parade of them in the presence of others. He seeks one thing only: that he who benefits by the forgiveness learns the greatness of the gift.” (St. John Chrysostom, Baptismal Instructions) “Thou dost not so much desire thy sins to be forgiven, as He desires to forgive thee thy sins. In proof that thou dost not so desire it, consider that thou hast no mind either to practice vigils, or to give thy money freely: but He, that He might forgive our sins, spared not His Only-Begotten and True Son, the partner of His throne.” (St. John Chrysostom) http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=473_0_1_0_C Tue, 29 Jun 2010 20:13:04 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=472_0_1_0_C “Take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a snare” (Luke 21:34). http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=472_0_1_0_C Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:52:21 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=471_0_1_0_C I speak not, indeed, of such a fast as most persons keep, but of real fasting; not merely an abstinence from meats; but from sins too. For the nature of a fast is such, that it does not suffice to deliver those who practice it, unless it be done according to a suitable law. "For the wrestler," it is said, "is not crowned unless he strive lawfully." To the end then, that when we have gone through the labour of fasting, we forfeit not the crown of fasting, we should understand how, and after what manner, it is necessary to conduct this business; since that Pharisee also fasted, but afterwards when down empty, and destitute of the fruit of fasting. The Publican fasted not; and yet he was accepted in preference to him who had fasted; in order that thou mayest learn that fasting is unprofitable, except all other duties follow with it. The Ninevites fasted, and won the favour of God. The Jews fasted too, and profited nothing, nay they departed with blame. Since then the danger in fasting is so great to those who do not know how they ought to fast, we should learn the laws of this exercise, in order that we may not "run uncertainly," nor "beat the air," nor while we are fighting contend with a shadow. Fasting is a medicine; but a medicine, though it be never so profitable, becomes frequently useless owing to the unskillfulness of him who employs it. For it is necessary to know, moreover, the time when it should be applied, and the requisite quantity of it; and the temperament of body that admits it; and the nature of the country, and the season of the year; and the corresponding diet; as well as varous other particulars; any of which, if one overlooks, he will mar all the rest that have been named. Now if, when the body needs healing, such exactness is required on our part, much more ought we, when our care is about the soul, and we seek to heal the distempers of the mind, to look, and to search into every particular with the utmost accuracy. I have said these things, not that we may disparage fasting, but that we may honour fasting; for the honour of fasting consists not in abstinence from food, but in withdrawing from sinful practices; since he who limits his fasting only to an abstinence from meats, is one who especially disparages it. Dost thou fast? Give me proof of it by thy works! Is it said by what kind of works? If thou seest a poor man, take pity on him! If thou seest an enemy, be reconciled to him! If thou seest a friend gaining honour, envy him not! If thou seest a handsome woman, pass her by! For let not the mouth only fast, but also the eye, and ear, and the feet, and the hands, and all the members of our bodies. Let the hands fast, by being pure from rapine and avarice. Let the feet fast, but ceasing from running to the unlawful spectacles. Let the eyes fast, being taught never to fix themselves rudely upon handsome countenances, or to busy themselves with strange beauties. For looking is the food of the eyes, but if this be such as is unlawful or forbidden, it mars the fast; and upsets the whole safety of the soul; but if it be lawful and safe, it adorns fasting. For it would be among things the most absurd to abstain from lawful food because of the fast, but with the eyes to touch even what is forbidden. Dost thou not eat flesh? Feed not upon lasciviousness by means of the eyes. Let the ear fast also. The fasting of the ear consists in refusing to receive evil speakings and calumnies. "Thou shalt not receive a false report," it says. [St. John Chrysostom, From "The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church," Volume 9.] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=471_0_1_0_C Fri, 11 Jun 2010 18:47:27 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=470_0_1_0_C Fasting is a medicine. But medicine, as beneficial as it is, becomes useless because of the inexperience of the user. He has to know the appropriate time that the medicine should be taken and the right amount of medicine and the condition of the body which is to take it, the weather conditions and the season of the year and the appropriate diet of the sick and many other things. If any of these things are overlooked, the medicine will do more harm than good. So, if one who is going to heal the body needs so much accuracy, when we care for the soul and are concerned about healing it from bad thoughts, it is necessary to examine and observe everything with every possible detail. Fasting is the change of every part of our life, because the sacrifice of the fast is not the abstinence but the distancing from sins. Therefore, whoever limits the fast to the deprivation of food, he is the one who, in reality, abhors and ridicules the fast. Are you fasting? Show me your fast with your works. Which works? If you see someone who is poor, show him mercy. If you see an enemy, reconcile with him. If you see a friend who is becoming successful, do not be jealous of him! If you see a beautiful woman on the street, pass her by. In other words, not only should the mouth fast, but the eyes and the legs and the arms and all the other parts of the body should fast as well. Let the hands fast, remaining clean from stealing and greediness. Let the legs fast, avoiding roads which lead to sinful sights. Let the eyes fast by not fixing themselves on beautiful faces and by not observing the beauty of others. You are not eating meat, are you? You should not eat debauchery with your eyes as well. Let your hearing also fast. The fast of hearing is not to accept bad talk against others and sly defamations. Let the mouth fast from disgraceful and abusive words, because, what gain is there when, on the one hand we avoid eating chicken and fish and, on the other, we chew-up and consume our brothers? He who condemns and blasphemes is as if he has eaten brotherly meat, as if he has bitten into the flesh of his fellow man. It is because of this that Paul frightened us, saying: "If you chew up and consume one another be careful that you do not annihilate yourselves." You did not thrust your teeth into the flesh (of your neighbor) but you thrusted bad talk in his soul; you wounded it by spreading disfame, causing unestimatable damage both to yourself, to him, and to many others. If you cannot go without eating all day because of an ailment of the body, beloved one, no logical man will be able to criticize you for that. Besides, we have a Lord who is meek and loving (philanthropic) and who does not ask for anything beyond our power. Because he neither requires the abstinence from foods, neither that the fast take place for the simple sake of fasting, neither is its aim that we remain with empty stomachs, but that we fast to offer our entire selves to the dedication of spiritual things, having distanced ourselves from secular things. If we regulated our life with a sober mind and directed all of our interest toward spiritual things, and if we ate as much as we needed to satisfy our necessary needs and offered our entire lives to good works, we would not have any need of the help rendered by the fast. But because human nature is indifferent and gives itself over mostly to comforts and gratifications, for this reason the philanthropic Lord, like a loving and caring father, devised the therapy of the fast for us, so that our gratifications would be completely stopped and that our worldly cares be transferred to spiritual works. So, if there are some who have gathered here and who are hindered by somatic ailments and cannot remain without food, I advise them to nullify the somatic ailment and not to deprive themselves from this spiritual teaching, but to care for it even more. For there exist, there really exist, ways which are even more important than abstinence from food which can open the gates which lead to God with boldness. He, therefore, who eats and cannot fast, let him display richer almsgiving, let him pray more, let him have a more intense desire to hear divine words. In this, our somatic illness is not a hindrance. Let him become reconciled with his enemies, let him distance from his soul every resentment. If he wants to accomplish these things, then he has done the true fast, which is what the Lord asks of us more than anything else. It is for this reason that he asks us to abstain from food, in order to place the flesh in subjection to the fulfillment of his commandments, whereby curbing its impetuousness. But if we are not about to offer to ourselves the help rendered by the fast because of bodily illness and at the same time display greater indifference, we will see ourselves in an unusual exaggerated way. For if the fast does not help us when all the aforementioned accomplishments are missing so much is the case when we display greater indifference because we cannot even use the medicine of fasting. Since you have learned these things from us, I pardon you, those who can, fast and you yourselves increase your acuteness and praiseworthy desire as much as possible. To the brothers, though, who cannot fast because of bodily illness, encourage them not to abandon this spiritual word, teaching them and passing on to them all the things we say here, showing them that he who eats and drinks with moderation is not unworthy to hear these things but he who is indifferent and slack. You should tell them the bold and daring saying that "he who eats for the glory of the Lord eats and he who does not eat for the glory of the Lord does not eat and pleases God." For he who fasts pleases God because he has the strength to endure the fatigue of the fast and he that eats also pleases God because nothing of this sort can harm the salvation of his soul, as long as he does not want it to. Because our philanthropic God showed us so many ways by which we can, if we desire, take part in God's power that it is impossible to mention them all. We have said enough about those who are missing, being that we want to eliminate them from the excuse of shame. For they should not be ashamed because food does not bring on shame but the act of some wrongdoing. Sin is a great shame. If we commit it not only should we feel ashamed but we should cover ourselves exactly the same way those who are wounded do. Even then we should not forsake ourselves but rush to confession and thanksgiving. We have such a Lord who asks nothing of us but to confess our sins, after the commitment of a sin which was due to our indifference, and to stop at that point and not to fall into the same one again. If we eat with moderation we should never be ashamed, because the Creator gave us such a body which cannot be supported in any other way except by receiving food. Let us only stop excessive food because that attributes a great deal to the health and well-being of the body. Let us therefore in every way cast off every destructive madness so that we may gain the goods which have been promised to us in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Father and the Holy Spirit. Amen. [Abridged from St. John Chrysostom homilies "On Fasting"] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=470_0_1_0_C Fri, 11 Jun 2010 18:44:34 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=469_0_1_0_C Let us return from that Table like lions breathing out fire, terrifying to the devil! Thousands of times every Sunday, throughout the world...the same readings, the same words of consecration, the same sacrifice; the Holy Spirit descends, allowing us to ascend, in spite of human inabilities and inhibitions, and to unite with all of the Children of God around the Father's dinner table for a foretaste of Heaven. My hope is that each time you go forward to experience our Lord, and partake in the eternal banquet, that you allow and invite Him to transform you in a new way...and truly live the life nourished by our daily bread. [St. John Chrysostom] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=469_0_1_0_C Fri, 11 Jun 2010 18:37:33 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=468_0_1_0_C 1. “Reading the Scriptures is a great safeguard against sin. Ignorance of the Scriptures is a precipice and a deep abyss.” [From Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus (The Sayings of the Desert Fathers; Cistercian Publications pg. 58).] 2. “Forget for at least this space of time the bustle and concerns of everyday life. Be like an angel, filled only with thoughts of God and of serving Him. After all, He is present now, and is blessing you.” [Hieromartyr Seraphim (Zvezdinsky), Bishop of Dmitrov (1883 - c. 1937).] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=468_0_1_0_C Mon, 07 Jun 2010 01:53:15 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=467_0_1_0_C “When a thought oppresses you, do not be downhearted, but put up with it in courage, saying, ‘They swarmed around me closer and closer, but I drove them back in the name of the Lord’ (Psalm 118:11). Divine help will arrive at your side immediately, and you will drive them away from you, and courage will compass you round about, and the glory of God will walk with you; and ‘you will be filled to your soul’s desire’ (Isaiah 58:11).” [From St. Pachomius (Pachomian Koinonia III; Cistercian Publications pg. 14).] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=467_0_1_0_C Mon, 07 Jun 2010 00:26:12 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=466_0_1_0_C True repentance is to cease to sin. [St. Ambrose] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=466_0_1_0_C Fri, 04 Jun 2010 17:55:48 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=465_0_1_0_C Prayer is the place of refuge for every worry, a foundation for cheerfulness, a source of constant happiness, a protection against sadness. [St John Chrysostom] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=465_0_1_0_C Fri, 04 Jun 2010 17:53:04 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=464_0_1_0_C This is the day that the Lord has made; let us be glad and rejoice in it. [Psalm 118: 24] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=464_0_1_0_C Fri, 04 Jun 2010 17:51:07 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=463_0_1_0_C Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the dark. [1 John 2:9] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=463_0_1_0_C Fri, 04 Jun 2010 17:49:38 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=462_0_1_0_C Let the mouth also fast from disgraceful speeches and railings. For what does it profit if we abstain from fish and fowl and yet bite and devour our brothers and sisters? The evil speaker eats the flesh of his brother and bites the body of his neighbor. [Saint John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=462_0_1_0_C Fri, 04 Jun 2010 17:48:52 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=461_0_1_0_C Do you wish your prayer to fly toward God? Give it two wings: fasting and almsgiving. [Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=461_0_1_0_C Fri, 04 Jun 2010 17:47:45 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=460_0_1_0_C Jesus Christ is the one Savior of the world, yesterday, today, and forever. [Hebrew 13.8] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=460_0_1_0_C Fri, 04 Jun 2010 17:46:47 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=459_0_1_0_C I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me. [Philippians 4:13] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=459_0_1_0_C Fri, 04 Jun 2010 17:45:43 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=458_0_1_0_C You must aim to be saintly and religious, filled with faith and love, patient and gentle. [1 Timothy 6: 11] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=458_0_1_0_C Fri, 04 Jun 2010 17:43:27 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=457_0_1_0_C One ought to remain in that Church which, having been founded by the Apostles, exists even till this day. http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=457_0_1_0_C Fri, 04 Jun 2010 16:51:08 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=456_0_1_0_C Not only we are in this assembly (in the Church), but also the prophets and the apostles and all the saints; and what is most important of all - among us is Jesus Christ Himself, the Master of everything. [St. John Chrysostom] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=456_0_1_0_C Fri, 04 Jun 2010 16:50:56 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=455_0_1_0_C The Church is the salt that salts the whole world, preserving it from putridity. [St. Ephraim the Syrian] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=455_0_1_0_C Fri, 04 Jun 2010 16:48:34 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=454_0_1_0_C For the Law is indeed the figure and the shadow of an image, that is, of the Gospels; but the image, namely, the Gospel, is the representative of Truth itself. For the men of older time and the Law foretold us the characteristics of the Church, and the Church represents those [characteristics] of the new dispensation which is to come... For we know in part, and as it were 'through a glass,' since that which is perfect has not yet come to us, namely the Kingdom of Heaven and the Resurrection. [St. Methodios of Alexandria, Banquet of the Ten Virgins] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=454_0_1_0_C Fri, 04 Jun 2010 16:46:11 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=453_0_1_0_C For whomever the Church is not mother, God is not father. [Cyprian of Carthage] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=453_0_1_0_C Fri, 04 Jun 2010 16:45:59 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=452_0_1_0_C For whomever the Church is not mother, God is not father. [Cyprian of Carthage] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=452_0_1_0_C Fri, 04 Jun 2010 16:45:34 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=451_0_1_0_C Jesus, Creator of those on high. Jesus, Redeemer of those below. Jesus, Vanquisher of the nethermost powers. Jesus, Adorner of every creature. Jesus, Comforter of my soul. Jesus, Enlightener of my mind. Jesus, Gladness of my heart. Jesus, Health of my body. Jesus, my Saviour, save me. Jesus, my Light, enlighten me. Jesus, from all torment deliver me. Jesus, save me who am unworthy. [Oikos 4] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=451_0_1_0_C Fri, 04 Jun 2010 16:39:28 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=450_0_1_0_C Let us pray to the Lord. Lord have mercy. You have gladdened us, O Lord, by your deeds, and in the works of your hands have we rejoiced. The light of your countenance, O Lord, has been signed upon us. You have given gladness to our hearts. From the fruit of wheat, wine, and oil have we been filled. Indeed, God is with us, He that has mercy and nourishes us by His grace and love for mankind, always, both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen. [Fr. Gus G. Christo] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=450_0_1_0_C Thu, 03 Jun 2010 15:14:03 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=449_0_1_0_C “For wealth itself often does not last until evening for those who thought to hold on to it, but, like a hardhearted runaway slave, it changes from one master to another, and sends off naked and deserted those who were so eager to treat it with all respect. The very experience of business affairs teaches everyone that wealth often takes those who have a passion for it and surrounds them with dangers they cannot resist. Human glory is something like this, too. He who shines out brilliantly today and appears famous in the eyes of men suddenly falls into dishonor and every body despises him…I exhort you, therefore: let us seek the things which abide forever and never change…And I urge you to show great zeal by gathering here in the Church at dawn to make your prayers and confessions to the God of all things, and to thank Him for the gifts He has already given. Beseech Him to deign to lend you from now on His powerful aid in guarding this treasure; strengthened with this aid, let each one leave the Church to take up his daily tasks, one hastening to work with his hands, another hurrying to his military post, and still another to his post in government. However, let each one approach his daily task with fear and anguish, and spend his working hours in the knowledge that at evening he should return here to the Church, render an account to the Master of his whole day, and beg forgiveness for his falls. Even if we are on our guard ten thousand times a day, we cannot avoid making ourselves accountable for many and different faults. Either we say something at the wrong time, or we listen to idle talk, or we think indecent thoughts, or we fail to control our eyes, or we spend time in vain and idle things that have no connection with what we should be doing.” [St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, Baptismal Instructions] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=449_0_1_0_C Thu, 03 Jun 2010 15:11:44 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=448_0_1_0_C Dear Parishioners: During the summer when we allocate time to rejuvenate our bodies, please let us not forget to regenerate our souls. Remember: “Everything in Due Moderation,” putting the Church first and foremost. “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works” (Matthew 16:26-27). Let us be a fine, tuned instrument – in body, soul and spirit – that magnifies God with love and boldness. Since the Divine Liturgy is the means by which Christ comes to us concretely in the Eucharist for adoration and nutrition, please let us attend the summer worship services. St. Paul calls all of us to be leaven (yeast). Just as leaven converts a large quantity of meal into its own quality, let us change our neighbor and locality to fit God’s specifications. Let us accomplish this through Communion with the Church where the power of the Gospel is great. What is once leavened becomes leaven in turn for others. God bless all of you with a safe, fruitful and blessed summer. Paternally, + Rev. Dr. Gus G. Christo, Protopresbyter http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=448_0_1_0_C Thu, 03 Jun 2010 15:08:22 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=447_0_1_0_C “Let us then, as long as we are in this world, repent of whatever evils we have done in the flesh, so that we may be saved by the Lord while we yet have time for repentance. For, after we have departed this world, we will no longer be able to confess, nor will there be any time to repent.” [St. Clement of Rome c. 101 A.D.] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=447_0_1_0_C Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:59:19 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=446_0_1_0_C “It is not meager income that constitutes poverty. Rather, insatiable wants constitute poverty. The good man, however, being free from such wants, is truly rich.” [St. Clement] “The things you teach cannot have any weight unless you be the first to practice them.” [Lactantius] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=446_0_1_0_C Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:58:11 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=445_0_1_0_C “It was fitting that Mary should be assisted by the holy Apostles. For, she was the Mother of them all, since the Only-Begotten Son and Word of God called His own Apostles brothers. It was fitting that her all-holy, God-bearing body, the receptacle of God, divinized and illumined by the divine light and full of glory, should be carried by the Apostles in company with the angels and confided for a short time to the earth and elevated in glory into heaven with its God-pleasing soul.” [Theoteknos of Livias, 6th century. An excerpt from one of the earliest sermons on the Dormition of the Theotokos] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=445_0_1_0_C Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:57:49 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=444_0_1_0_C 1. “Slander is worse than cannibalism.” 2. “Prayer should be the means by which I, at all times, receive all that I need, and, for this reason, be my daily refuge, my daily consolation, my daily joy, my source of rich and inexhaustible joy in life.” http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=444_0_1_0_C Mon, 31 May 2010 23:16:42 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=443_0_1_0_C If we wish to understand the power of Christ’s blood, we should go back to the ancient account of its prefiguring in Egypt. “Sacrifice a lamb without blemish,” commanded Moses, “and sprinkle its blood on your doors.” If we were to ask him what he meant, and how the blood of an irrational beast could possibly save men endowed with reason, his answer would be that the saving power lies not in the blood itself, but in the fact that it is a sign of the Lord’s blood. In those days, when the destroying angel saw the blood on the doors, he did not dare to enter, so how much less will the devil approach now when he sees, not that figurative blood on the doors, but the true blood on the lips of believers, the doors of the temple of Christ. (St. John Chrysostom, Baptismal Catechesis 3) http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=443_0_1_0_C Wed, 26 May 2010 01:13:10 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=442_0_1_0_C So, then, the Holy Spirit is the River, and the abundant River, which according to the Hebrews flowed from Jesus in the lands, as we have received it prophesied by the mouth of Isaiah. This is the great River which flows always and never fails. And not only a river, but also one of copious stream and overflowing greatness, as also David said: "The stream of the river makes glad the city of God." For neither is that city, the heavenly Jerusalem, watered by the channel of any earthly river, but that Holy Spirit, proceeding from the Fount of Life, by a short draught of Whom we are satiated, seems to flow more abundantly among those celestial Thrones, Dominions and Powers, Angels and Archangels, rushing in the full course of the seven virtues of the Spirit. For if a river rising above its banks overflows, how much more does the Spirit, rising above every creature, when He touches the as it were low-lying fields of our minds, make glad that heavenly nature of the creatures with the larger fertility of His sanctification. And let it not trouble you that either here it is said "rivers," or elsewhere "seven Spirits," for by the sanctification of these seven gifts of the Spirit, as Isaiah said, is signified the fullness of all virtue; the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and godliness, and the Spirit of the fear of God. One, then, is the River, but many the channels of the gifts of the Spirit. This River, then, goes forth from the Fount of Life. And here, again, you must not turn aside your thoughts to lower things, because there seems to be some difference between a Fount and a River, and yet the divine Scripture has provided that the weakness of human understanding should not be injured by the lowliness of the language. Set before yourself any river, it springs from its fount, but is of one nature, of one brightness and beauty. And do you assert rightly that the Holy Spirit is of one substance, brightness, and glory with the Son of God and with God the Father. I will sum up all in the oneness of the qualities, and shall not be afraid of any question as to difference of greatness. For in this point also Scripture has provided for us; for the Son of God says: "He that shall drink of the water which I will give him, it shall become in him a well of water springing up unto everlasting life." This well is clearly the grace of the Spirit, a stream proceeding from the living Fount. The Holy Spirit, then, is also the Fount of eternal life. . . . [St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=442_0_1_0_C Tue, 18 May 2010 12:46:26 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=441_0_1_0_C “Even if all spiritual fathers, patriarchs, hierarchs, and all the people forgive you, you are unforgiven if you don’t repent in action.” [St Kosmas Aitolos (18th cent.)] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=441_0_1_0_C Tue, 11 May 2010 09:55:32 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=440_0_1_0_C O God and Lord of the Powers, and Maker of all creation, Who, because of Thy clemency and incomparable mercy, didst send Thine Only-Begotten Son and our Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of mankind, and with His venerable Cross didst tear asunder the record of our sins, and thereby didst conquer the rulers and powers of darkness; Receive from us sinful people, O merciful Master, these prayers of gratitude and supplication, and deliver us from every destructive and gloomy transgression, and from all visible and invisible enemies who seek to injure us. Nail down our flesh with fear of Thee, and let not our hearts be inclined to words or thoughts of evil, but pierce our souls with Thy love, that ever contemplating Thee, being enlightened by Thee, and discerning Thee, the unapproachable and everlasting Light, we may unceasingly render confession and gratitude to Thee: The eternal Father, with Thine Only-Begotten Son, and with Thine All-Holy, Gracious, and Life-Giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen. [St. Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=440_0_1_0_C Tue, 04 May 2010 22:19:07 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=439_0_1_0_C “Grudging existence to none, therefore, [God] made all things out of nothing through His own Word, our Lord Jesus Christ; and of all these His earthly creatures He reserved especial mercy for the race of men. Upon them, therefore, upon men who, as animals, were essentially impermanent, He bestowed a grace which other creatures lacked—namely, the impress of His own Image, a share in the reasonable being of the very Word Himself, so that, reflecting Him and themselves becoming reasonable and expressing the Mind of God even as he does, though in limited degree, they might continue for ever in the blessed and only true life of the saints in paradise.” [St. Athanasius the Great of Alexandria, De Incarnatione 3.] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=439_0_1_0_C Sun, 25 Apr 2010 23:19:34 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=438_0_1_0_C Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen! “Let us, then, dearly-beloved, confess what the blessed teacher of the nations, the Apostle Paul, confessed, saying, ‘Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.’ For God’s mercy towards us is the more wonderful that Christ died not for the righteous nor for the holy, but for the unrighteous and wicked; and though the nature of the Godhead could not sustain the sting of death, yet at His birth He took from us that which He might offer for us. For of old He threatened our death with the power of His death, saying by the mouth of Hosea the prophet, ‘O death, I will be thy death, and I will be thy destruction, O hell.’ For by dying He underwent the laws of hell, but by rising again He broke them, and so destroyed the continuity of death as to make it temporal instead of eternal. ‘For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.’ And so, dearly-beloved, let that come to pass of which St. Paul speaks, ‘that they that live, should henceforth not live to themselves but to Him who died for all and rose again.’ And because the old things have passed away and all things are become new, let none remain in his old carnal life, but let us all be renewed by daily progress and growth in piety. For however much a man be justified, yet so long as he remains in this life, he can always be more approved and better. And he that is not advancing is going back, and he that is gaining nothing is losing something. Let us run, then, with the steps of faith, by the works of mercy, in the love of righteousness, that keeping the day of our redemption spiritually, ‘not in the old leaven of malice and wickedness, but in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth,’ we may deserve to be partakers of Christ's resurrection, Who with the Father and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth for ever and ever. Amen.” [On the Passion of Christ by St Leo the Great, Bishop of Rome] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=438_0_1_0_C Tue, 20 Apr 2010 14:04:54 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=437_0_1_0_C “It is He [Christ] that delivered us from slavery to liberty, from darkness to light, from death to life, from tyranny to eternal royalty; and made us a new priesthood and an eternal people personal to Him. He is the Pascha of our salvation.” [An excerpt from Melito of Sardis, On Pascha] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=437_0_1_0_C Tue, 13 Apr 2010 15:16:13 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=436_0_1_0_C "The reign of life has begun, the tyranny of death is ended...This is the day the Lord has made --a day far different from those made when the world was first created, and which are measured by the passage of time. This is the beginning of a new creation. On this day, as the prophet says, God makes a new heaven and a new earth." [St. Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=436_0_1_0_C Tue, 06 Apr 2010 15:48:22 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=435_0_1_0_C Christ is risen from the dead, Trampling down death by death, And to those in the tombs He has given life! (Greek Transliteration) Christos anesti ek nekron, thanato thanaton patisas, ke tis en tis mnimasin, zoin charisamenos! The Paschal Homily of St. John Chrysostom “If any man be devout and loveth God, let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast! If any man be a wise servant, let him rejoicing enter into the joy of his Lord. If any have laboured long in fasting, let him how receive his recompense. If any have wrought from the first hour, let him today receive his just reward. If any have come at the third hour, let him with thankfulness keep the feast. If any have arrived at the sixth hour, let him have no misgivings; because he shall in nowise be deprived therefore. If any have delayed until the ninth hour, let him draw near, fearing nothing. And if any have tarried even until the eleventh hour, let him, also, be not alarmed at his tardiness. For the Lord, who is jealous of his honour, will accept the last even as the first. He giveth rest unto him who cometh at the eleventh hour, even as unto him who hath wrought from the first hour. And He showeth mercy upon the last, and careth for the first; and to the one He giveth, and upon the other He bestoweth gifts. And He both accepteth the deeds, and welcometh the intention, and honoureth the acts and praises the offering. Wherefore, enter ye all into the joy of your Lord; receive your reward, both the first, and likewise the second. You rich and poor together, hold high festival! You sober and you heedless, honour the day! Rejoice today, both you who have fasted and you who have disregarded the fast. The table is full-laden; feast ye all sumptuously. The calf is fatted; let no one go hungry away. Enjoy ye all the feast of faith: Receive ye all the riches of loving-kindness. Let no one bewail his poverty, for the universal Kingdom has been revealed. Let no one weep for his iniquities, for pardon has shown forth from the grave. Let no one fear death, for the Savior's death has set us free. He that was held prisoner of it has annihilated it. By descending into Hell, He made Hell captive. He embittered it when it tasted of His flesh. And Isaiah, foretelling this, did cry: Hell, said he, was embittered when it encountered Thee in the lower regions. It was embittered, for it was abolished. It was embittered, for it was mocked. It was embittered, for it was slain. It was embittered, for it was overthrown. It was embittered, for it was fettered in chains. It took a body, and met God face to face. It took earth, and encountered Heaven. It took that which was seen, and fell upon the unseen. O Death, where is thy sting? O Hell, where is thy victory? Christ is risen, and thou art overthrown! Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen! Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice! Christ is risen, and life reigns! Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave. For Christ, being risen from the dead, is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep. To Him be glory and dominion unto ages of ages. Amen.” Paschal Greetings in various languages English: Christ is Risen! Indeed He is risen! Albanian: Khrishti unjal! Vertet unjal! Aleut: Khristus anahgrecum! Alhecum anahgrecum! Alutuq: Khris-tusaq ung-uixtuq! Pijii-nuq ung-uixtuq! Amharic: Kristos tenestwal! Bergit tenestwal! Anglo-Saxon: Crist aras! Crist sodhlice aras! Arabic: El Messieh kahm! Hakken kahm! Armenian: Kristos haryav ee merelotz! Orhnial eh harootyunuh kristosee! Aroman: Hristolu unghia! Daleehira unghia! Athabascan: Xristosi banuytashtch'ey! Gheli banuytashtch'ey! Bulgarian: Hristos voskrese! Vo istina voskrese! Byelorussian: Khrystos uvaskros! Sapraudy uvaskros! Chinese: Helisituosi fuhuole! Queshi fuhuole! Coptic: Christos anesti! Alithos anesti! Czech: Kristus vstal a mrtvych! Opravdi vstoupil! Danish: Kristus er opstanden! I sandhed Han er Opstanden! (or Sandelig Han er Opstanden!) Dutch: Christus is opgestaan! Ja, hij is waarlijk opgestaan! Eritrean-Tigre: Christos tensiou! Bahake tensiou! Esperanto: Kristo levigis! Vere levigis! Estonian: Kristus on oolestoosunt! Toayestee on oolestoosunt! Ethiopian: Christos t'ensah em' muhtan! Exai' ab-her eokala! Finnish: Kristus nousi kuolleista! Totisesti nousi! French: Le Christ est ressuscite! En verite il est ressuscite! Gaelic: Kriost eirgim! Eirgim! Georgian: Kriste ahzdkhah! Chezdmaridet! German: Christus ist erstanden! Er ist wahrhaftig erstanden! Greek: Christos anesti! Alithos anesti! Hawaiian: Ua ala hou `o Kristo! Ua ala `I `o no `oia! Hebrew: Ha Masheeha houh kam! A ken kam! (or Be emet quam!) Icelandic: Kristur er upprisinn! Hann er vissulega upprisinn! Indonesian: Kristus telah bangkit! Benar dia telah bangkit! Italian: Cristo e' risorto! Veramente e' risorto! Japanese: Harisutosu Fukkatsu! Jitsu ni Fukkatsu! Javanese: Kristus sampun wungu! Saesto panjene ganipun sampun wungu! Korean: Kristo gesso! Buhar ha sho nay! Latin: Christus resurrexit! Vere resurrexit! Latvian: Kristus ir augsham sales! Teyasham ir augsham sales vinsch! Lugandan: Kristo ajukkide! Amajim ajukkide! Malayalam (Indian): Christu uyirthezhunnettu! Theerchayayum uyirthezhunnettu! Nigerian: Jesu Kristi ebiliwo! Ezia o' biliwo! Norwegian: Kristus er oppstanden! Han er sannelig oppstanden! Polish: Khristus zmartvikstau! Zaiste zmartvikstau! Portugese: Cristo ressuscitou! Em verdade ressuscitou! Romanian: Cristos a inviat! Adevarat a inviat! Russian: Khristos voskrese! Voistinu voskrese! Sanskrit: Kristo'pastitaha! Satvam upastitaha! Serbian: Cristos vaskres! Vaistinu vaskres! Slovak: Kristus vstal zmr'tvych! Skutoc ne vstal! Spanish: Cristo ha resucitado! En verdad ha resucitado! Swahili: Kristo amefufukka! Kweli Amefufukka! Swedish: Christus ar uppstanden! Han ar verkligen uppstanden! Syriac: M'shee ho dkom! Ha koo qam! Tlingit: Xristos Kuxwoo-digoot! Xegaa-kux Kuxwoo-digoot! Turkish: Hristos diril-di! Hakikaten diril-di! Ugandan: Kristo ajukkide! Kweli ajukkide! Ukranian: Khristos voskres! Voistinu voskres! Welsh: Atgyfododd Crist! Atgyfododd yn wir! Yupik: Xris-tusaq Ung-uixtuq! Iluumun Ung-uixtuq! Zulu: Ukristu uvukile! Uvukile kuphela! http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=435_0_1_0_C Tue, 30 Mar 2010 17:32:14 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=434_0_1_0_C “By saying, ‘If it be possible, let it pass from me,’ Christ showed His humanity. However, by saying, ‘Nevertheless not as I will, but as You will,’ He showed His virtue and self-command, teaching us even when nature pulls us back to follow God.” (St. John Chrysostom, Homily 83 on the Gospel of St. Matthew) http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=434_0_1_0_C Tue, 23 Mar 2010 13:29:40 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=433_0_1_0_C “But he arose from the dead and mounted up to the heights of heaven. When the Lord had clothed himself with humanity, and had suffered for the sake of the sufferer, and had been bound for the sake of the imprisoned, and had been judged for the sake of the condemned, and buried for the sake of the one who was buried, he rose up from the dead, and cried aloud with this voice: Who is he who contends with me? Let him stand in opposition to me. I set the condemned man free; I gave the dead man life; I raised up the one who had been entombed. Who is my opponent? I, he says, am the Christ. I am the one who destroyed death, and triumphed over the enemy, and trampled Hades under foot, and bound the strong one, and carried off man to the heights of heaven, I, he says, am the Christ. Therefore, come, all families of men, you who have been befouled with sins, and receive forgiveness for your sins. I am your forgiveness, I am the Passover of your salvation, I am the lamb which was sacrificed for you, I am your ransom, I am your light, I am your savior, I am your resurrection, I am your king, I am leading you up to the heights of heaven, I will show you the eternal Father, I will raise you up by my right hand. This is the one who made the heavens and the earth, and who in the beginning created man, who was proclaimed through the law and prophets, who became human via the virgin, who was hanged upon a tree, who was buried in the earth, who was resurrected from the dead, and who ascended to the heights of heaven, who sits at the right hand of the Father, who has authority to judge and to save everything, through whom the Father created everything from the beginning of the world to the end of the age. This is the alpha and the omega. This is the beginning and the end–an indescribable beginning and an incomprehensible end. This is the Christ. This is the king. This is Jesus. This is the general. This is the Lord. This is the one who rose up from the dead. This is the one who sits at the right hand of the Father. He bears the Father and is borne by the Father, to whom be the glory and the power forever. Amen.” [Excerpt from St. Melito of Sardis’ text “On Pascha”] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=433_0_1_0_C Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:10:33 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=432_0_1_0_C Thank You to the Delaware State Legislature for the Greek Independence Day Tribute by + Rev. Dr. Gus George Christo, Protopresbyter Dover, Delaware on March 22, 2007 Esteemed and most honorable ladies and gentlemen of the legislative body of our beloved State of Delaware, it is a high privilege to address you today. I thank you for granting me this opportunity. My thoughts are of deep gratitude and affection for the tribute that you have bestowed upon the Greek Orthodox Community of the State of Delaware in recognition of the March 25th Greek Independence Day celebration. History has taught us that the road to freedom is not an easy one. The road that our Greek ancestors traveled to achieve their freedom spanned 368 years from the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 until the Declaration for Independence in 1821. It is a tribute to the Hellenic spirit for attaining freedom from the Ottoman yoke. Americans such as John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison identified with the Greek struggle and assisted the effort toward a democratic government that would guarantee liberty and justice for all its citizens. For, Greece was the birthplace of democratic principles and the legacy of Greek Independence Day boldly testifies to the awesome power of faith and liberty. But most especially, in the minds of the Hellenic Orthodox people, the glorious event of democracy that ensued from the 25th of March is intricately tied in with the Feast of the Annunciation of Our Most Holy Lady, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary which, too, is celebrated on March 25th. The feast commemorates the announcement by the Archangel Gabriel to the Virign Mary that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Son of God, would become incarnate and enter into this world through her. We as Greek Americans and Greeks abroad ultimately owe the re-flourishing of democracy in our hearts and on our ancestral soil to the intercessions of our Lady. She is the driving force behind the strong cooperation and friendship between Greece and America and the successes of Greek Americans that have made these God-crowned United States of America stronger and have placed the arts and sciences on the cutting edge. Bound by the common values of the United States and Greece: liberty, justice, peace, democracy, friendship, prosperity, security, patriotism, religious freedom, and a strong commitment to family and God, I stand before you today to accept this tribute. Thank you and may God bless America. http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=432_0_1_0_C Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:05:02 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=431_0_1_0_C “According to St. John Chrysostom, the beneficial aspects of martyrdom, including the martyrs' continuing and aiding presence in the Church, are felt after the martyrs' death, through their holy relics. These relics become vehicles manifesting God's power and love towards mankind in several ways. In the one instance, they thwart the devil's attack upon Christians and endlessly wound the devil, as they remind him of Christ's saving death and resurrection, which were imitated by the holy martyrs. In another way, they impart great benefits to the Christians who venerate them, and seek the assistance of the martyrs to whom they belong. The benefits imparted include restoration of physical and mental health to the ill and preservation of the healthy; also, human beings are taught about Christ's Gospel, they are led towards virtue (or excellence), and are cleansed from the unclean spirits, which are exorcised; even the dead may be brought back to life. Finally, the relics of the martyrs are used as altars for the celebration of the Divine Liturgy, and thus grant great benefits to the faithful throughout Salvation History (i.e., both in the Old and New Testaments), because they are imbued by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit.” [Martyrdom According to John Chrysostom: “To Live is Christ, To Die is Gain”, by the Rev. Dr. Gus G. Christo] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=431_0_1_0_C Thu, 04 Mar 2010 09:41:30 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=430_0_1_0_C Let us bear all things thankfully, be it poverty, be it disease, be it anything else whatever: for He alone knows the things expedient for us…Are we in poverty? Let us give thanks. Are we in sickness? Let us give thanks. Are we falsely accused? Let us give thanks. When we suffer affliction, let us give thanks…Affliction is a great good. “Narrow is the way,” so that affliction thrusts us into the narrow way. He who is not pressed by affliction cannot enter. For he who afflicts himself in the narrow is he who also enjoys ease, but he that spreads himself out does not enter in and suffers from being, so to say, wedged in. See how Paul enters into this narrow way? He “keeps under” his body so as to be able to enter. Therefore, in all his afflictions, he continued giving thanks to God. Have you lost any property? This has lightened you of most of your wideness. Have you fallen from glory? This is another sort of wideness. Have you been falsely accused? Have the things said against you, of which you are not conscious, been believed [by others?] “Rejoice and leap for joy.” For “blessed are you,” [says the Lord], “when men reproach you and say all manner of evil against you, falsely, for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in Heaven.” http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=430_0_1_0_C Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:38:20 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=429_0_1_0_C [The following is taken from "The Consecration of a Greek Orthodox Church According to Eastern Orthodox Tradition, A Detailed Account and Explanation of the Ritual," by Gus George Christo, Texts and Studies in Religion, Volume 109, The Edwin Mellen Press, Lewiston/Queenston/Lampeter, 2005; pgs. 3-7.] The Centrality of Relics in the Church Christianity in its formative years was a persecuted religion. The primary notion of martyrdom, a martyrdom by death and a baptism in one’s own blood, clearly marked that era. The individuals who suffered martyrdom perfectly imitated Christ’s sacrifice and martyrdom upon the cross. There existed a direct connection between the cosmic redemptive and expiatory death of Christ and that of the martyrs. Therefore, it was a common practice during the early Christian centuries to erect Churches over the tombs of the martyrs so the bloodless sacrifice, the Holy Eucharist, could be celebrated and the everlasting Kingdom of God ushered and established sacramentally in time and space by the concrete presence of the very body and blood of the resurrected and glorified Son of God, who sits at the right hand of God the Father. The holy scriptures are filled with examples of people, places and things that are consecrated to the service of God. For example, it is noteworthy to mention in Acts 5:16 of the healing power in the Apostle Peter’s shadow, and in Acts 19:11-12 of the restorative power of the handkerchiefs and aprons touched by the Apostle Paul. Indeed, Luke 8:40-48 describes an infirmed yet faithful woman who touched the hem of Christ’s garment and was healed. The Apostle and Evangelist John notes in the Book of Revelation (6:9) of his vision where he sees under the altar the souls of the saints who underwent martyrdom for the testimony of the gospel. Scriptural examples account for us how the early Church developed the sacred tradition of: securing holy relics under the altar, placing objects such as garments coming in contact with relics as objects of veneration, and processing with relics. A classic example of the procession of relics appears in the Book of Exodus (13:19) where Joseph’s bones were handled sacredly and became part of a four hundred year procession. Moses had vowed that Joseph’s bones would find their final resting place in the promised land. The Church officially canonized the universal tradition of consecrating Churches with the holy relics of martyrs at the Seventh Ecumenical Council held in Nicea in 787 A.D. Legislation was drawn up making the consecration of Churches without relics heretical. According to the theology of relics presented by St. John Chrysostom in his panegyric homilies, God takes the martyrs' souls and gives mankind their relics until the final resurrection of the dead. Hence, relics are treasures that contain innumerable goods for human beings to harvest. They are symbols of Christ's bodily and perfect resurrection from the dead, of the future age and of the unwaning day of the kingdom. They serve as means of transforming corrupt human nature into the image and likeness of Christ. How does God sanctify saints' relics? The grace and holiness of the Spirit of God moves from the martyrs' souls to their bodies and then to their clothing. From their clothing it spreads to their shoes and, finally, it moves into the very shadows they cast, as evidenced by the shadow of St. Peter that raised a human corpse back to life once it passed over it. The veneration of relics by the faithful stemmed from the martyrs' imitation of Christ's baptism in death, suffering and sacrifice, and their subsequent emigration into heaven, call to a better and more spiritual life, change from corruptibility to incorruptibility, and spiritual wedding to Christ the Master. Resulting from a martyrdom by death, or a baptism in blood, a martyr became a channel for the power of God and an intercessor between God and human beings. The martyr's holy relics served as the visible and concrete manifestation of all this to the early Church. Holy relics, adorned with the stigmata of Christ, become vehicles revealing God's power and love toward mankind in several ways. Firstly, they thwart the devil's attack upon Christians and endlessly wound him, as they remind him of Christ's saving death and resurrection that the holy martyrs imitated. Secondly, the relics impart great benefits to the Christians who honor them at special shrines and seek the assistance of the martyrs to whom they belong. The benefits given include: God's compassion and forgiveness of any sin committed, restoration of physical and mental health to the ill and preservation of the healthy, great boldness before God, instruction about Christ's gospel, leadership towards virtue, and cleansing from the unclean spirits that are exorcised. Even the dead may be brought back to life. Thirdly, martyrs' relics function as altars for the celebration of the divine liturgy, and thus grant great benefits to the faithful throughout salvation history, because they are imbued with invisible power, dominion and the grace of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, the power of the relics of the glorified saints in heaven is the nobility of the Christians and the crown of the Church. Therefore, unlike material treasures, relics are neither diminished nor dan¬gerous when divided. Since they are spiritual things, they increase in value when they are partitioned and multiply when they are divided. Finally, someone who has venerated a saint's relics is readily recognized by his countenance, form, gait, feeling of piety and devotion, by the collection of his thoughts, and by his humility. The movements of his body and the proclamation of his philosophy distinguish him as someone who paid such homage. Scripture proves this point when it remarks: "A man's attire, grinning laughter and gait show what he is" (Ecclesiasticus, or the Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach 19:30). The locations where the relics of God's saints have been deposited are solely according to God's providence. God selects the location for the deposition of a saint's relics with the specific purpose of edifying the people with the truth and power of the gospel, which is clearly revealed by the saint's triumph over his executioners. At these locations or shrines God guides the pilgrim to exhibit the same zeal for the faith as the martyr who presently resides in heaven. The pilgrim's acceptance of this guidance gives God the opportunity to prepare a safe har¬bor for him and provide comfort for his misfortunes. The shrines become sites of refreshment and renewal as the pilgrim's con¬sciousness is unburdened and his perspective relating to his sal¬vation is recaptured and secured. The pilgrim then leaves the shrine as an "ensouled" and "spiritual shrine" because the saint and his achievements dwell within his thoughts and heart. In the final analysis, central to the picture of a saint's martyrdom and holy relics is the life of Christ culminating in His martyrdom upon the cross and vindication through His resurrection. Around that center, we have as primary witnesses to this martyrdom apostles and saints, who not only believed in but actually fol¬lowed after Christ, and especially those who among them shared in His holy martyrdom. It is quite clear from this picture that the early Church understood the gospel culminating in the martyrdom and glorification of Christ in a most literal way, pro¬claiming it not only in word but in example and deed. Faith was not an assent to a set of ideas related to Christ, but a way of life, Christ's life. The model of a believer was the person who fol¬lowed Him to the cross and who became through his own mar¬tyrdom a witness to the glory of His resurrection. There is a crude realism to this picture of faith, particularly when one exam¬ines it in some of its details, most notably the detail connected with the holy relics of the Christian martyrs; but such a crudity indicates in the most indisputable manner that the Christian gospel is concerned with the entire man and not just with his mind or spirit. The dust of history is transformed into a witness that anticipates its renewal, which has already been com¬menced in the resurrection of Christ and in the glorification of His martyrs and saints who partake in it through their death. Martyrdom is integrally linked with Christianity because it is the most effective and decisive way of overcoming the existing powers of darkness, repre¬sented by sin and satan, and the most effective way of re-establishing the Kingdom of God in humanity and in the world at large. The centrality of relics in the life of the Church is best seen during the time of the Christian Roman Emperors. Whenever the celebration of a martyr’s feast day occurred in the imperial city of Constantinople, the emperor would humble himself in the public’s view by putting off the imperial purple and all insignias of earthly sovereignty, he would dress in simple peasant clothes, enter the imperial Church and venerate the martyr’s relics. And once the emperors reposed, they left orders behind for their earthly remains to be interred next to those of the holy martyrs. It was the custom in Constantinople for the emperors to be buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles that housed the awesome relics of Christendom such as the true cross of Christ, the bones of the Twelve Apostles and of numerous martyrs, and the holy fathers of the Church. For this reason, St. John Chrysostom, the Archbishop of Constantinople once wrote: "In Rome, the emperor, the consuls and the rulers make pilgrimages to the graves of the Fisherman and the Tent-maker. But in Constantinople, those who once wore the diadem are satisfied if they are buried, not even near the Apostles, but outside in the forecourt. So the emperors become doorkeepers for the Fishermen…These find themselves inside, like the lords, but those, as though they were servants, consider it a favor if they may find a place by the outer door." ["John Chrysostom and His Time, Volume Two, Constantinople: The Later Years," by Rev. Chrysostomus Baur, O.S.B. Translated by Sr. M. Gonzaga,. R.S.M., p. 460. Copyright 1988 by Bu>chervertriebsanstalt. ISBN 3-905238-11-X.] Glory to God for all Things. Amen. [Holy Relics freely offered to the Holy Trinity Community of Wilmington, Delaware by Fr. Gus George Christo, Ph.D.] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=429_0_1_0_C Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:02:01 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=428_0_1_0_C O Lord our God, faithful in your words and truthful in your promises, you who have enabled by your grace, your holy martyrs to fight the good fight, to finish the race of godliness and to keep the true faith; all-holy Lord, respond in mercy to their prayers and look upon us, your unworthy servants in your grace and grant that we may share in their inheritance, that by imitating them, we also may receive the blessings which await them. Through the mercy and love for mankind of your only-begotten Son with whom you are blessed, together with your all-holy, good and life-giving Spirit, both now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. [From the Service of Consecration of an Orthodox Church] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=428_0_1_0_C Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:02:08 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=427_0_1_0_C “Just as it is impossible to fight battles without weapons, or to swim a great sea with clothes on, or to live without breathing, so without humility and the constant prayer to Christ it is impossible to master the art of inward spiritual warfare or to set about it and pursue it skillfully.” [On Watchfulness and Holiness, 99] “Prayer is a great blessing, and it embraces all blessings, for it purifies the heart, in which God is seen by the believer.” [Watchfulness, 62] “The more the rain falls on the earth, the softer it makes it. Similarly, Christ’s holy name gladdens the earth of our heart the more we call upon it.” [Watchfulness, 41] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=427_0_1_0_C Tue, 16 Feb 2010 14:57:15 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=426_0_1_0_C “Thy grace has shown forth, Lord, the grace which illumines our soul. This is the acceptable time! This is the time of repentance! Let us lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armour of light, that passing through the Fast as through a great sea we may reach the Resurrection on the Third Day of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of our souls.” [Great Vespers on Cheese Fare Sunday Evening, Aposticha, Tone 4, of the Holy Orthodox Church] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=426_0_1_0_C Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:24:34 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=425_0_1_0_C Chrysostom’s greatest and most timely contribution to the strengthening of our faith in God is his biblical teaching on the paschal mystery and our connection to its saving power through the Church, Christ Himself, the greatest of all mysteries. The blood and water that flowed from Christ’s side while suspended upon the Cross, representing the holy Eucharist and sacred Baptism respectively, are the cornerstones of our redemption and inclusion in the life of the Holy Trinity. “But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe” (John 19:34-35). There is no doubt that Chrysostom is an eminent witness to the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist and its sacrificial character. His statements to that effect are numerous, clear, positive and detailed. He would have this sacrament approached with awe and devotion and calls the Eucharist “a table of holy fear, an awe-inspiring and divine table, the frightful mysteries, the divine mysteries, the ineffable mysteries, the mysteries which demand reverence and trembling.” The consecrated wine is “the cup of holy awe, the awe-inspiring blood, and the precious blood.” Moreover, the Eucharist is “an awe-inspiring and terrible sacrifice, a fearful and holy sacrifice, the most awe-inspiring sacrifice.” Pointing to the altar, he says: “Christ lies there slain, His Body lies before us now. That which is in the Chalice is the same as what flowed from the side of Christ. What is the bread? The Body of Christ. Reflect, O man, what sacrificial flesh you take in your hand. To what table you will approach. Remember that you, though dust and ashes, do receive the Blood and the Body of Christ.” The divine power of the Eucharist transfigures each human recipient into the very Church of God because it flowed down from the cross and from the Master’s immaculate side. The one Church is seen in the many and the many in the one. Chrysostom says: Since the symbols of Baptism and the Eucharist flowed from His side, it was from His side that Christ fashioned the Church, as He had fashioned Eve from the side of Adam. Moses gives a hint of this when he tells the story of the first man and makes him exclaim: “Bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh!” As God then took a rib from Adam’s side to fashion a woman, so Christ has given us blood and water from His side to fashion the Church. God took the rib when Adam was in a deep sleep, and in the same way Christ gave us the blood and the water after His own death. (Baptismal Catechesis 3) By this sacred communication in Christ, the participant becomes the bride of Christ the Bridegroom. An intimate spiritual union beyond comprehension and admittance into the heavenly bridal chamber are achieved. Chrysostom states: By one and the same food we are both brought into being and nourished. As a woman nourishes her child with her own blood and milk, so does Christ unceasingly nourish with His own blood those to whom He Himself has given life. (Baptismal Catechesis 3) According to Chrysostom, the power of Christ’s blood was prefigured in the Old Testament by the smearing of blood on the lintel of the Jewish houses in order for the angel of death to pass over them. The holy father notes: If we wish to understand the power of Christ’s blood, we should go back to the ancient account of its prefiguring in Egypt. “Sacrifice a lamb without blemish,” commanded Moses, “and sprinkle its blood on your doors.” If we were to ask him what he meant, and how the blood of an irrational beast could possibly save men endowed with reason, his answer would be that the saving power lies not in the blood itself, but in the fact that it is a sign of the Lord’s blood. In those days, when the destroying angel saw the blood on the doors, he did not dare to enter, so how much less will the devil approach now when he sees, not that figurative blood on the doors, but the true blood on the lips of believers, the doors of the temple of Christ. (Baptismal Catechesis 3) When the celebration of the Divine Liturgy occurs, “when [we] see the Lord immolated and lying upon the altar, and the priest bent over that sacrifice praying, and all the people empurpled by that precious blood,” the Church in heaven and on earth unites and is one and the same. “When the priest conducts the divine service, angels station themselves about him and in a choir they chant a hymn of praise in honor of the victim who is sacrificed.” Chrysostom assures: Christ is present. The one [Christ] who prepared that table [long ago] is the very one who now prepares this table. For, it is not a man who makes the sacrificial gifts become the Body and Blood of Christ, but He that was crucified for us, Christ Himself. The priest stands there carrying out the action, but the power and the grace is of God [Homilies on the Treachery of Judas 1:6]. There is one Christ everywhere, complete both in this world and in the other. [There is] one Body. As then, though offered in many places, He is but one Body, so there is but one Sacrifice...We offer that now which was offered then; which is indeed inconsumable...We do not offer a different sacrifice as the high priest [of the Jews] formerly did, but always the same. Believe that there takes place now the same banquet as that in which Christ sat at table, and that this banquet is in no way different from that. For, it is not true that this banquet is prepared by a man while that was prepared by Himself. Today as then it is the Lord who works and offers all. We assume the role of servants; it is He who blesses and transforms. It is not man who causes what is present to become the Body and Blood of Christ, but Christ Himself who was crucified for us. The priest is the representative when he pronounces those words, but the power and the grace are those of the Lord. “This is my Body,” he says. This word changes the things that lie before us; and as that sentence “increase and multiply,” once spoken, extends through all time and gives to our nature the power to reproduce itself; even so that saying “This is my Body,” once uttered, does at every table in the Churches from that time to the present day, and even till Christ’s coming, make the sacrifice complete. He continues, saying: You envy the opportunity of the woman who touched the vestments of Jesus, of the sinful woman who washed His feet with her tears, of the women of Galilee who had the happiness of following Him in His pilgrimages, of the Apostles and disciples who conversed with Him familiarly, of the people of the time who listened to the words of grace and salvation which came forth from His lips. You call happy those who saw Him…But, come to the altar and you will see Him, you will touch Him, you will give to Him holy kisses, you will wash Him with your tears, you will carry Him within you like Mary Most Holy. Indeed: You see that same Body, not in a manger, but upon the altar; not carried in His Mother’s arms, but elevated in the priest’s hands. Let us, therefore, be roused, and tremble, and bring with us more devotion to the altar than those eastern kings did to the manger, where they adored their newborn Savior. With affection Chrysostom adds: Because of this Body I am no longer earth and ash, no longer a prisoner, but free. Because of this Body I hope for heaven, and I hope to receive the good things that are in heaven, immortal life, the lot of the angels, familiar conversation with Christ. This Body, scourged and crucified, has not been fetched by death…This is that Body which was blood-stained, which was pierced by a lance, and from which gushed forth those saving fountains, one of blood and the other of water, for all the world…This is the Body which He gave us, both to hold in reserve and to eat, which was appropriate to intense love. [Homilies on Corinthians 8, 1(2); 24, 2(3); 24, 2(4); 24, 4(7).] Some of his expressions are yet stronger. He does not hesitate to declare: Not only ought we to see the Lord, but we ought to take Him in our hands, eat Him, set our teeth upon His Flesh and most intimately unite ourselves with Him. What the Lord did not tolerate on the Cross [i.e., the breaking of His legs], He tolerates now in the sacrifice through the love of you. He permits Himself to be broken in pieces that all may be filled to satiety. Because of Christ’s concrete presence in the Eucharist, Chrysostom requests all attendees to the Eucharistic celebration to be properly disposed and behaved. He says: What are you doing, O man? When the priest says: “Let us lift up our mind and our hearts,” why do you not affirm and say: “We lift them up to the Lord?” You are not afraid? You are not ashamed of being found a liar at this terrible moment? Bless me, what a wonder! The Mystical Table is prepared, the Lamb of God is sacrificing Himself for you, the priest is struggling on your behalf, spiritual fire is gushing forth from the undefiled Table, the Cherubim are standing by and the Seraphim are flying, the six-winged creatures are covering their faces, all the bodiless powers together with the priest are interceding on your behalf, the spiritual fire is descending, the blood from the Immaculate Side is emptying into the vessel for your purification, and you are not afraid, you do not blush, and you are found a liar at that terrible moment? The week has 168 hours and God set aside for Himself one hour only, and you spend it in worldly and ridiculous affairs and in company? With what boldness do you later approach the Mysteries? ... Do not see it as bread, neither think that it is wine, for the body does not eliminate them in a toilet like other food. Neither say this nor think it! Just as a burning candle does not leave a trace and nothing remains of itself, likewise believe in this case that the Mysteries are spent inside the body together with its essence. For this reason while you approach, do not think that you partake of the Divine Body from a man; rather, believe that you partake of the Divine Body from the very seraphim with the fiery spoon that Isaiah saw; and when we partake of the Saving Blood, let us believe that our lips touch the very Divine and Immaculate Side. Therefore, for this reason my brethren, let us not be absent from the Churches, and inside them let us no longer occupy our time in conversations. Let us stand with fear and trembling, with our eyes lowered and the soul elevated, with silent sighs and loud shouts of the heart…I will not cease telling you these things until I see you become corrected. When we come to the Church, we must enter in accordance with God’s liking, having no malice in the soul, nor praying to our detriment when we say: “Forgive us as we forgive those who trespass against us” (Matthew 6:12). For this statement is terrible, and he who says it is exclaiming to God something like this: “I remitted; Master, you remit. I loosened; you loosen. I forgave; you forgive. If I retained, you retain. If I did not forgive my neighbor, then do not annul my sins. With the measure I used to measure, let me be measured as well.” [Homily 9 on Repentance] “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). From a brief sample of his writings, St. John Chrysostom reveals to us that, just as the Lord appeared to His Apostles in the Upper Room after His glorious Resurrection over 2,000 years ago and communicated them in the Mysteries of His Body and Blood, He concretely manifests Himself in the sacred Eucharist during every Divine Liturgy so we may commune in the very life of the Holy Trinity and sit with Him at the right hand of the Heavenly Power. Through His undefiled and incorrupt Humanity, we are redeemed and deified. According to Chrysostom, this is the unchanging faithfulness of Christ toward the members of His Church: “Truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For, my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven – not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever (John 6: 53-58). Likewise, our faithfulness to God must also be unchanging in all circumstances, as Chrysostom explained at the end of his tenth homily on the Gospel of St. Matthew: To this alone should we train ourselves: to bear all trials with courage, and not inquire as to the how or why of them. It is God’s affair alone to know when our sufferings will come to an end. It is our duty to bear with gratitude the affliction which God ordains for us...So let us put all discouragement aside, and give glory in all things to God, who directs all things for our best good. His banner of life, “Glory to God for all things,” reveals that the faith and practice of a true Orthodox Christian must be “the same yesterday, today, and forever.” http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=425_0_1_0_C Wed, 03 Feb 2010 01:54:04 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=424_0_1_0_C “To this alone should we train ourselves: to bear all trials with courage, and not inquire as to the how or why of them. It is God’s affair alone to know when our sufferings will come to an end. It is our duty to bear with gratitude the affliction which God ordains for us...So let us put all discouragement aside, and give glory in all things to God, who directs all things for our best good.” [St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople] http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=424_0_1_0_C Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:48:21 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=423_0_1_0_C “Just as it is impossible to fight battles without weapons, or to swim a great sea with clothes on, or to live without breathing, so without humility and constant prayer to Christ it is impossible to master the art of inward spiritual warfare or to set about it and pursue it skilfully.” Hesychios the Priest: On Watchfulness and Holiness, 99 From <a href="http://www.monachos.net/content/patristics/studies-fathers/64-hesychios-the-priest-on-personal-holiness" >http://www.monachos.net/content/patristics/studies-fathers/64-hesychios-the-priest-on-personal-holiness</a> http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=423_0_1_0_C Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:04:55 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=422_0_1_0_C "A sound heart is life to the body, whereas envy is rottenness to the bones." Proverbs 14:30 (NKJV) http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=422_0_1_0_C Wed, 20 Jan 2010 23:54:54 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=421_0_1_0_C “After this the Holy of Holies [a figurative name given to the baptistery] was opened to you, you entered the sanctuary of regeneration; recall what you were asked, and remember what you answered. You renounced the devil and his works, the world with its luxury and pleasures. That utterance of yours is preserved not in the tombs of the dead, but in the book of the living. You saw there the deacon, you saw the priest, you saw the chief priest [the bishop]. Consider not the bodily forms, but the grace of the Mysteries. You spoke in the presence of the angels, as it is written: ‘For the priest’s lips keep knowledge, and they seek the law at his mouth, for he is the angel of the Lord Almighty’ [Malachi 2:7]. There is no place for deception nor for denial. He is an angel who proclaims the kingdom of Christ and eternal life. He is to be esteemed by you not according to his appearance, but according to his office. Consider what he delivered, reflect upon the rule of life he gave you, recognize his position.” http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=421_0_1_0_C Tue, 19 Jan 2010 15:12:37 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=420_0_1_0_C 1. “As a moth gnaws a garment, so doth envy consume a man.” 2. “The bee is more honored than other animals, not because she labors, but because she labors for others.” 3. “Slander is worse than cannibalism.” 4. “Poor human reason, when it trusts in itself, substitutes the strangest absurdities for the highest divine concepts.” http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=420_0_1_0_C Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:23:14 GMT http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=419_0_1_0_C St. Hesychius the Priest (8th/9th century) said: “St Basil the Great, mouthpiece of Christ and pillar of the Church, says that a great help towards not sinning and not committing daily the same faults is for us to review in our conscience at the end of each day what we have done wrong and what we have done right. Job did this with regard both to himself and to his children (cf. Job 1.5). These daily reckonings illumine a man's hour-by-hour behavior.” (On Watchfulness and Holiness, 65; in the Philokalia, vol. i, p. 174.) http://www.holytrinitywilmington.org/pm/comments.php?id=419_0_1_0_C Tue, 05 Jan 2010 20:21:49 GMT