Monthly Archives: December 2017

Homily: Spiritual Reading & Gratitude

Posted on by
Reply

Sunday, December 31 (December 18, OS): 30th Sunday after Pentecost: Sunday before Nativity, of the Holy Fathers; Martyr Sebastian at Rome and his companions (287); St. Modestus, archbishop of Jerusalem (4th c.). Ven. Florus, Bishop of Amisus (7th c.); Ven. Michael the Confessor at Constantinople (845).

Ss Cyril & Methodius Mission, Madison, WI

Epistle: Hebrew 11:9-10, 17-23, 32-40
Gospel: Matthew 1:1-25

By divine grace, the broken men and women we hear about in today’s Gospel are all fit together as part of what St Augustine calls the divine catechesis. From Adam onward, Augustine says, God was slowly leading and purifying humanity until in the person of the Theotokos we are able to say “Yes” to Him and undo the disobedience of our First Parents.

As He has done from the beginning, God continues to for broken people together. Where once this was done to prepare humanity to receive His Son, now we are fit together as members of the Church. Once the Father fit broken people together to receive Christ. Today, He not only fits them together to become members Christ but to become alter Christus, or “another Christ.”

Having been joined to Christ’s Body the Church through Baptism, Chrismation, and Holy Communion, we are called by the Father to share in the Son’s work of reconciling humanity to God and so overcoming the power of sin and death in their lives and our own.

The practical question before us is this: How do we, personally, fulfill our great calling?

We have the sacraments, the worship of the Church and the ascetical disciplines of prayer, fasting, almsgiving and manual labor. These are–or at least should be–a part of every Christian’s life. But I want to focus this morning not on these but on another discipline much loved by the fathers of the Church. Spiritual reading.

When Augustine first meets St Ambrose, he is quite impressed that the bishop of Milan is sitting at his desk reading the Scriptures. The practice in the ancient world was not to read the Bible but to listen to it being read. But Ambrose doesn’t listen to Scripture, he reads it. Astonishing as this is to Augustine, he is even more impressed that Ambrose is reading silently. He is concentrating s intensely on the task at hand that he is reading without moving his lips!

The regular, even daily, reading of Scripture is the foundation of all spiritual reading. It’s also something that is often neglected. St John Chrysostom tells his listeners “to persevere continually in reading the divine Scriptures” because “it is not possible, not possible for anyone to be saved without continually taking advantage of spiritual reading” of the Bible.

He goes on to say that

Reading the Scriptures is a great means of security against sinning. The ignorance of Scripture is a great cliff and a deep abyss; to know nothing of the divine laws is a great betrayal of salvation. This has given birth to heresies, this has introduced a corrupt way of life, this has put down the things above. For it is impossible, impossible for anyone to depart without benefit if he reads continually with attention (On Wealth and Poverty, Saint Vladimir Press, pg. 58-60).

Together with the Scriptures, we can also read the Church Fathers. Their works are the biblical commentaries of the Orthodox Church. In their words, we discover not only the meaning of Scripture but also how it can apply to our lives.

With Scripture and the fathers, we can also add philosophy as well as the findings of the sciences. Again, this is something that the fathers recommend to us. Reflecting on the place of “pagan,” that is “secular” learning, St Basil the Great says “Just as it is the chief mission of the tree to bear its fruit in its season, though at the same time it puts forth for ornament the leaves which quiver on its boughs, even so, the real fruit of the soul is truth, yet it is not without advantage for it to embrace the pagan wisdom, as also leaves offer shelter to the fruit, and an appearance not untimely” (“Address to Young Men on the Right Use of Greek Literature,” III).

Basil expands this to include not only philosophy and the sciences but also the great myths and poetry of the ancient world. In these, we find examples of both the virtues that lead to salvation and the vices that keep us from the Kingdom of Heaven. He goes so far as to say that when reading pagan literature we should we should “receive gladly those passages in which they praise virtue or condemn vice” (“Address,” IV).

Key to profitable spiritual reading, as St Basil suggests, is gratitude. I need to read with a grateful heart. To the grateful heart examples of vice are as profitable as virtue. The latter gives me examples to emulate, the former to avoid.

As I read with gratitude, my tendency to prefer my own judgment to the judgment of God will wane. This, in turn, will make it possible for me to recognize myself, my failures and successes, my vices and virtues, in what I read.

And slowly I begin to see how, like the ancestors of Christ, God has fit my brokenness into His plan of salvation not only for me but all humanity.

And, if I am inclined to do so, this growth in self-knowledge and understanding allows me to grow in a gracious and appreciative knowledge and understand others.

My brothers and sisters in Christ!  Spiritual reading helps us cultivate the habit of gratitude to God for even the smallest hint of His grace. Yes, like all humanity we are broken. Through spiritual reading, however, we learn to be open to the traces of grace not only in the things we read but in our lives and the lives of those we meet daily.

In Christ,

+Fr Gregory

Homily: In Christ is All

Posted on by
2

Sunday, December 24, 2017 (December, 11 OS): 29th Sunday after Pentecost. Tone 4; The Sunday of the Holy Forefathers; Ven. Daniel the Stylite of Constantinople (490). Martyr Mirax of Egypt (640). Martyr Acepsius and Aeithalas at Arbela in Assyria (VII). Ven. Luke the New Stylite of Chalcedon (979). Ven. Nicon the Dry of Kyiv Caves (1101).

Epistle: Colossians 3:4-11

Gospel: Luke 14:16-24

The violence and compulsion that always seem to travel along with the Kingdom of God are wholly of my own making. Let me explain.

St John Chrysostom tells us that when we hear about God’s anger, we shouldn’t think that God’s anger is like our own. I get angry because I am offended or afraid. Even when my anger is righteous, there is something sinful mixed in. My anger always reflects my over-attachment to my own will, to my own plans and projects.

For God, however, “even if He punishes even if He takes vengeance, He does this not with wrath, but with tender care, and much loving kindness.” This why Chrysostom concludes that when we sin we should be courageous and “trust in the power of repentance.” Why? Because God doesn’t react out a sense of His own wounded dignity but rather “with a view to our advantage, and to prevent our perverseness becoming worse by our making a practice of despising and neglecting Him.” While it may feel like an affront or even a punishment, what God does, He does not to “[avenge] Himself on account of our former deeds; but because He wishes to release us from our disorder” (An exhortation to Theodore after his fall,” 1, 4).

The more I have rebelled against God the more His will feel to me like an act of violence. The more I give my heart over to created reality rather than to God, the more it feels like, in the words of today’s parable, that God is “compel[ling]” me to “come into [His] house.

The more I love the creature more than the Creator, the more it will always feel as if God is compelling me, forcing me to do His will. The violence, however, is not committed by God.

Rather, I am the one who commits violence against myself. It isn’t God who violates my freedom or wounds my dignity. I do these things to myself when I resist His grace. When I refuse to, as St Paul says, “put to death” all that is earthly in me, I make Adam’s transgression my own and become my own worst enemy.

This is why it is important at times simply to stop. To take the time to keep silent, to pray and reflect on my life. I need to remind myself of all the ways in which I prefer the creature to the Creator and my own will to the will of God. To avoid harming myself I must, in the words from the Liturgy, live a “life of repentance.”

We need to pause at this point to avoid making the mistake of thinking that to prefer the Creator to the creature or the will of God to my own will, means to ignore the personal and work demands of everyday life. Nothing could be further from the truth!

In fact, what we need to do is learn to see the demands made on us in lightof the Gospel. The obligations that make up life are an intrinsic part of the everyday asceticism that God asks of us. Our daily obligations, the myriad little and great tasks of my life, must be seen within the wider context of the “Grace, mercy, and peace” that comes “from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love” (2 John 1:3, NKJV).

Here’s the great blessing that I often overlook in my short-sighted pursuit of my own will.

Apart from God, even the very best thing in my life will, even those things and people that bring me the greatest sense of accomplishment and satisfaction, will eventually become sources of bitter disappointment and division.

In Christ, the people and tasks in my life, my successes as well as my failures, all these become sources of healing, reconciliation, and communion.

In Christ, that is undertaken with a spirit gratitude to God, everything in my life becomes a moment of divine grace.

And as if this wasn’t enough…

In Christ, all that we do not only glorifies God but also is a step along the way to becoming more fully the man or woman God has created us to be.

Reflecting on the Magnificat, St Ambrose of Milan points out that “the human voice can[not] add anything to God.” Even the best of my accomplishments or the purest expression of my love, adds nothing to God. But, Ambrose reminds us, still we can say that God is “is magnified within us” because when “the soul does what is right and holy, it magnifies… God, in whose likeness it was created and, in magnifying the image of God, the soul has a share in its greatness and is exalted” (Commentary on Luke, II, 19.26-27).

My brothers and sisters in Christ, when we “put off the old man with his deeds, and … put on the new man,” the myriad tasks and relationships of our lives take on a lasting and eternal character.

Likewise, as we set aside our own sinfulness–that, is through repentance–we are “renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created” me, we become more fully the men and women who God has created us to be.  And it is in this that we find the justice and peace and the mercy and love that is always escaping even the best of our merely human intentions.

In Christ,

+Fr Gregory

 

Patriarchal Proclamation of Christmas 2017

Posted on by
Reply

Prot. No. 1123

PATRIARCHAL PROCLAMATION FOR CHRISTMAS

BARTHOLOMEW
By God’s Mercy Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch
To the Plenitude of the Church.
Grace, Mercy and Peace from the Savior Christ Born in Bethlehem.
* * *
Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, dear children,

By the grace of God, we are once again deemed worthy to reach the great feast of the birth of the divine Word in the flesh, who came into the world to grant us “well-being,”{1} remission of sin, of captivity to the works of the law and death, in order to grant us true life and great joy, which “no one can take from us.”{2}

We welcome the “all-perfect God,”{3}  who “brought love into the world,”{4}  who becomes “closer to us than we to ourselves.”{5}  Through kenosis, the divine Word condescends to the created beings in “a condescension inexplicable and incomprehensible.”{6} He “whom nothing can contain” is contained in the womb of the Virgin; the greatest exists in the least. This great chapter of our faith, of how the transcendent God “became human for humankind,”{7} while remaining an “inexpressible” mystery. “The great mystery of divine Incarnation ever remains a mystery.”{8}

This strange and paradoxical event, “which was hidden for ages and generations,”{9} is the foundation of the gift of human deification. “There is no salvation in anyone else; for there is no other human name beneath heaven through which we must be saved.”{10}

This is the supreme truth about salvation. That we belong to Christ. That everything is united in Christ. That our corruptible nature is refashioned in Christ, the image is restored and the road toward likeness is opened for all people. By assuming human nature, the divine Word establishes the unity of humanity through a common divine predestination and salvation. And it is not only humanity that is saved, but all of creation. Just as the fall of Adam and Eve impacts all of creation, so too the Incarnation of the Son and Word of God affects all of creation. “Creation is recognized as free when those who were once in darkness become children of light.”{11}  Basil the Great calls us to celebrate the holy Nativity of Christ as the “common feast of all creation,” as “the salvation of the world—humanity’s day of birth.”{12}

Once again, the words that “Christ is born” are unfortunately heard in a world filled with violence, perilous conflict, social inequality and contempt of foundational human rights. 2018 marks the completion of seventy years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which, after the terrible experience and destruction of World War II, manifested the common and noble ideals that all peoples and countries must unwaveringly respect. However, the disregard of this Declaration continues, while various abuses and intentional misinterpretations of human rights undermine their respect and realization. We continue either not to learn from history or not to want to learn. Neither the tragic experience of violence and reduction of the human person, nor the proclamation of noble ideals have prevented the continuation of aggression and war, the exaltation of power and the exploitation of one another. Nor again have the domination of technology, the extraordinary achievements of science, and economic progress brought social justice and the peace that we so desire. Instead, in our time, the indulgence of the affluent has increased and globalization is destroying the conditions of social cohesion and harmony.

The Church cannot ignore these threats against the human person. “There is nothing as sacred as a human being, whose nature God Himself has shared.”{13}  We struggle for human dignity, for the protection of human freedom and justice, knowing full well that “true peace comes from God,”{14}  that the transcendent mystery of the Incarnation of divine Word and the gift of human deification reveals the truth about freedom and humanity’s divine destiny.

In the Church, we experience freedom through Christ, in Christ and with Christ. And the very summit of this freedom is the place of love, which “does not seek its own”{15} but “derives from a pure heart.”{16}  Whoever depends on himself, seeks his own will, and is self-sufficient—whoever pursues deification by himself and congratulates himself—only revolves around himself and his individual self-love and self-gratification; such a person only sees others as a suppression of individual freedom. Whereas freedom in Christ is always oriented to one’s neighbor, always directed toward the other, always speaks the truth in love. The aim of the believer is not to assert his or her rights, but rather “to follow and fulfill the rights of Christ”{17} in a spirit of humility and thanksgiving.

This truth about the life in Christ, about freedom as love and love as freedom, is the cornerstone and assurance for the future of humankind. When we build on this inspired ethos, we are able to confront the great challenges of our world, which threaten not only our well-being but our very survival.

The truth about the “God-man” is the response to the contemporary “man-god” and proof of our eternal destination proclaimed by the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church (Crete, 2016): “The Orthodox Church sets against the ‘man-god’ of the contemporary world the ‘God-man’ as the ultimate measure of all things. “We do not speak of a man who has been deified, but of God who has become man.” The Church reveals the saving truth of the God-man and His body, the Church, as the locus and mode of life in freedom, “speaking the truth in love,” and as participation even now on earth in the life of the resurrected Christ.”

The Incarnation of the divine Word is the affirmation and conviction that Christ personally guides history as a journey toward the heavenly kingdom. Of course, the journey of the Church toward the kingdom, which is not realized remotely or independently of historical reality—or its contradictions and adventures—has never been without difficulties. Nevertheless, it is in the midst of these difficulties that the Church witnesses to the truth and performs its sanctifying, pastoral and transfiguring mission. “Truth is the pillar and ground of the Church … The pillar of the universe is the Church … and this is a great mystery, a mystery of godliness.”{18}

Brothers and sisters, children in the Lord,

Let us celebrate together—with the grace of the divine Word, who dwelt in us, as well as with delight and fullness of joy—the feasts of the Twelve Days of Christmas. From the Phanar we pray that our Lord and Savior—who was incarnate out of condescension for all people—may in this coming new year grant everyone physical and spiritual health, along with peace and love for one another. May He protect His holy Church and bless the works of its ministry for the glory of His most-holy and most-praised Name.

Christmas 2017
Bartholomew of Constantinople
Your fervent supplicant before God

———————————————-
{1} Gregory the Theologian, Oration XXXVIII, on Theophany, namely the Nativity of the Savior, iii, PG 36, 313.
{2} John 10:18.
{3} Doxastikon of the Aposticha from the Great Vespers of Christmas.
{4} Nicholas Cabasilas, The Life in Christ, vi, PG 150, 657.
{5} Ibid. vi PG 150, 660.
{6} John of Damascus, An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, iii, 1, PG 94, 984.
{7} Maximus the Confessor, Various chapters on Theology and Economy concerning virtue and vice, First Century, 12, PG 90, 1184.
{8} Ibid.
{9} Col. 1:26.
{10} Acts 4:12.
{11} Iambic Katavasia on the Feast of Theophany, Ode VIII.
{12} Basil the Great, Homily on the Nativity of Christ, PG 31, 1472-73.
{13} Nicholas Cabasilas, The Life in Christ, vi, PG 150, 649.
{14} John Chrysostom, On Corinthians 1, Homily I, 1, PG 61, 14.
{15} 1 Cor. 13:5.
{16} 1 Tim. 1:5.
{17} Theotokion, Aposticha of the Ainoi, October 12.
{18} John Chrysostom, On Timothy I, Homily XI, PG 62, 554.

Source: (Ecumenical Patriarchate)

Nativity Message from the Assembly Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America

Posted on by
Reply

Source (AOB)

Friday, December 22, 2017

Come, believers, let us see where Christ has been born. Let us follow where the star guides with the Magi, kings of the East. Angels sing praises there without ceasing. Shepherds abiding in the fields offer a fitting hymn, saying: Glory in the highest to Him Who has been born today in a cave from the Virgin and Mother of God, in Bethlehem of Juda (Kathesma of the Nativity)

To the Reverend Priests and Deacons, the Monks and Nuns, the Presidents and Members of Parish Councils, the Day, Afternoon, and Church Schools, the Members of Philanthropic Organizations, the Youth and Youth Workers, and the entire Orthodox Christian Family of the United States of America.

Beloved Faithful in Christ,

With the Magi, the kings of the East, each of us is invited to embark on a lifelong journey to meet the Savior—the Son of God, born in the flesh by the Virgin. Our High Priest, Jesus Christ, has shared in our humanity, and thus sympathizes with us. The Lord of lords and King of kings (1 Tim 6:15) assumes flesh and becomes man under some of the harshest conditions: He is born in an uninviting cave; He is lain in a cold manger; and days after His birth, He is forced to seek refuge in foreign lands. Because Christ has endured suffering in the flesh, we are now granted absolute comfort!

The encounter between God and man does not occur in shopping centers, Christmas markets, or ornate storefronts. Such festive places certainly bring a smile to our faces, especially to our children, but they fail to offer us salvation. Worth more than a precious ornament, and more valuable than fragrant perfumes, God’s mercy is freely offered to the world by the birth of the Son of God.

Beloved faithful, as we go about our daily lives in our blessed country where we enjoy freedoms and liberties, we are invited to noetically enter the grotto of the Nativity and with our physical eyes gaze upon the homeless who suffer from the elements and see in them Christ wrapped in swaddling clothes. And as we join the angelic hosts in doxology, we are to give voice to the marginalized and destitute. Perhaps most importantly, let us listen to the cries of the countless children who are misguided and abused, and embrace them as the Christ-child Himself.

During our most recent meeting, the Hierarchs of the Assembly had the opportunity to reflect upon the condition of our youth in America. As we listened to expert reports and data from professionals in the fields of youth ministry and emerging leadership, and as we engaged in open discussion, we acknowledged that more can and must be done for our children and young adults. Therefore, as we gather to celebrate the Nativity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, please consider how you might be part of this work.

Together with my brother Hierarchs of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States, I extend blessings and prayers that God will bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work (Cor. 9:8). Have a joyous Christmas celebration and a blessed New Year, 2018.

With love in Christ, the incarnate God

+Archbishop Demetrios of America
Chairman

Homily A Witness to More

Posted on by
Reply

Sunday, December 17, 2017 (December 4, OS): 28th Sunday after Pentecost. Tone 3; Great-martyr Barbara and Martyr Juliana at Heliapolis in Syria (306). Ven. John Damascene (776). Ven. John, bishop of Polybotum (716).

Epistle: Colossians 1:12-18/Galatians 5:22-6:2
Gospel: Luke 17:12-19/Mark 5:24-34

Leprosy in the Scriptures is a symbol of human sinfulness.

Just as leprosy makes the person more prone to infection and decay because it numbs the body’s ability to feel pain, sin deadens the heart’s sensitivity to the presence of God. It isn’t so much that the person denies God’s existence but that he or she is indifferent to God.

The heart’s indifference doesn’t harm God. It does, however, harm us. Indifference to God condemns the person to the kind of social isolation that we see in the Gospel this morning. St. Dorotheos of Gaza explains why.

He says that God is the hub of a wheel on which we are spokes. The closer we draw to God, the closer we draw to each other. Likewise, the further I am from God, the further I am from you.

“This is the very nature of love,” the saint writes.

The more we are turned away from and do not love God, the greater the distance that separates us from our neighbor. If we were to love God more, we should be closer to God, and through love of him we should be more united in love to our neighbor; and the more we are united to our neighbor the more we are united to God (Discourses and Sayings, p. 139).

Because we are social beings, in separating us from God and our neighbor, sin also separates me from myself. Sin makes me not only a stranger to myself but my own worst enemy. “For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice” says St Paul. When I look into my own heart, I realize that “I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members” (Romans 7:19, 23, NKJV).

For all the good we see around us–and there is real and substantial goodness to be seen if only I am willing to see it–we live in a community that fosters indifference to God. This is why God has called us to establish a parish on the Isthmus.

Left unchecked, the secularism that is advanced by the institutions like the UW-Madison or groups like the Freedom from Religion Foundation is corrosive to the human heart and civil society.

Please note I said “unchecked secularism.” The separation of church and state that is the hallmark of the American Experiment is a precious safeguard of human conscience and the ability of the Church to structure her internal life and her external witness according to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

The problem arises when secularism is imposed. This might happen by law as it did during the Soviet era. In Madison, however, what typically happens is social pressure is subtly (and sometimes, not so subtly) brought to bear to silence or marginalize believers.

Our mission has a mission: to offer a gentle but faithful witness to the presence of God. We offer this witness not only for the sake of others but also for our own. Let’s look at each in turn.

Reflecting on his own experience, St Augustine comes to see that what is true for his life, is true for all of us. He says to God “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you” (The Confessions, I.1). While most of those we met will not become Orthodox Christians, we shouldn’t minimize the positive effect we can have on others. Apart from God, the human heart will not know lasting peace.

The fathers are clear: “what the soul is in the body, Christians are in the world.” Even if most will not come, in this life at least, to faith in Christ, God nevertheless will our witness to help heal the restlessness that afflicts those around us.

To be sure, there are times when this will feel like a thankless task because “the world …hates the Christians, though in no wise [are they] injured, because [we] abjure pleasures.”  But just as the “soul is imprisoned in the body, yet keeps together that very body … Christians are confined in the world as in a prison, and yet they keep together the world. … God has assigned [us] this illustrious position” and it is “unlawful for [us] to forsake” it (The Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus, VI).

This brings us to our next point. Our witness here is not simply for the sake of others but our own salvation as well.

Created in the image of God, we never really become fully ourselves until–like Christ–we give ourselves away in love for the sake of others. So many Orthodox Christians experience unnecessary suffering in their spiritual lives because for all that they love God and the Church they fail to serve others.

The fact is, we never really will possess the Gospel and the peace that St Paul describes in the second epistle this morning, until we hand that faith on to others;”if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

My suffering is unnecessary and pointless to the measure that I fail to bear witness to Christ. The less willing I am to work for your salvation, the less willing I am to see you liberated from sin, the more I am enslaved to sin and the more my own salvation is in doubt.

My brothers and sisters in Christ! What a great honor God has given us by calling us to establish a parish here on the Isthmus!

We get to bear witness to a way of life that is deeper, satisfying to the human spirit.

We offer a witness that tempers a life of mere professional, academic or social success by reminding people that, as good as all these can be, there is more–much more–to life than these.

In Christ,

+Fr Gregory