Understanding Our Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church — 20170709

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As many know, our Church embraces an Eastern Christian tradition that is ancient. SS Cyril and Methodius came to the Slavic area, now known as Bulgaria, and brought with them the Christian traditions of the Byzantine Church, the Church as it found expression in Constantinople, present day Istanbul. Rusyns embraced this tradition. The center that supported the development of Christianity in the area now know as Ukraine was Kyiv. That is our tradition. There are, according to one author, two icons that are essential to understanding ourselves who worship in this Kyvian tradition and are members of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church. Those two icons are the Annunciation, which relates the Incarnation of God as Jesus and Mary of the Sign or the Oranta.

The Annunciation icon is traditionally placed on the Royal Doors of the iconastasis. It is the mystery which opens the Kingdom of God to us. The real significance of the encounter of Mary with the Archangel Gabriel is that she is asked to place her trust in God. It was truly a very thoughtful act. It was a challenge to her humanity which she met with maturity. Intelligent and personal commitment is what was expected of her and is also expected of each one of us. Our entire relationship to God has to come out of the precept that an intelligent being makes thoughtful decisions on all major aspects of human existence. Anything less than that does not befit our Creator and His Holy Wisdom. Western Christian tradition has a tendency to overplay the Mother of God’s virginity and in doing so distorts the essence of humanity in general and womanhood in particular. In Western Christianity, Mary is pictured alone. In Eastern Christianity she is never pictured without Christ.

At a recent ecumenical Marian conference, Fr. Robert F. Taft, S.J., the theologian and major author on Eastern Christian worship, decried the Western reductionist approach to Mary. He thinks it is endemic to Mediterranean Catholic culture resulting in “machismo” only to be followed by more distortions and even abuse. Defining the Mother of God and her womanhood in the sexual context by glorifying female chastity ignores her intelligence. In the Western world her immaculate status seems to signify only abstention from sex, rather than expressing the sublime doctrine of the divine origin of the Only-begotten Son and Word of God, and the saving action of the Holy Spirit in Christ’s absolutely divine “Incarnation” to which the Mother of God agreed with great personal discernment.

The Eastern approach seems to highlight the fact that salvation is a cooperative act between God and man. It takes a person to commit themselves to the actualization of their potential to grow in their likeness of God as made manifest in the Person of Jesus.

The Spirituality of the Christian East — 20170709

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What does it mean to be in the image of God? Often enough, we find the Fathers giving an answer in terms of human qualities, and these turn out to be qualities of the soul. The “according to the image”, says John Damascene, is truly manifest in intelligence and free will. Being in the image means being a rational, or intelligent, being with free will. Sometimes the answer is more complex. Athanasius, for instance, talks about God’s creating us and our being ‘given something more’:

…creating human beings not simply like all the irrational animals upon the dearth, but making them according to his own image, and giving them a share of the power of his own Word, so that having as it were shadows of the Word and being made rational, they might be able to abide in blessedness, living the true life, which is really that of the holy ones in paradise.

Being in the image is not for Athanasius simply a matter of being rational, for otherwise the angels would be in the image too, something that he denies: being in the image is a gift to humanity, body and soul, which grants rationality to the human, but must mean more than this. The more is for Athanasius tied up with the fact that the image of God is Christ, the Word of God, whom we cannot understand apart from the Incarnation. It is in some way according to the image of God, understood as the Word of God Incarnate, that human-kind was fashioned. This more complex notion unfolds in two ways, which I will deal with in the next issue.
God became man in the Person of Jesus so that we might have an understanding of the image in which we have been created.

Reflections on the Scripture Readings for this Weekend — 20170702

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This weekend our readings are taken from Paul’s letter to the Romans and Matthew’s Gospel. Paul states at the end of Chapter 6, “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Think about this! God became man in the Person of Jesus, in order to reveal to us our true nature as human beings. If, of course, we don’t believe this to be true, we cannot understand this or be disposed to experience this. This is one reason why Paul exhorts the Romans and us to believe in the Person of Jesus, the Christ. God revealed the meaning and purpose of life through the Person of Jesus.

Matthew, in relating the story of Jesus curing the Centurion’s servant, stresses the type of disposition we are called to cultivate in order to truly develop a relationship with God. The appropriate disposition is expressed both in the words of the Centurion and in the words that Jesus directed at him.
The Centurion is quoted as having made this wonderful statement: “I am not worthy to have you under my roof. Just give an order and my boy will get better.” It is a statement that conveys absolute and true humility. It also is a statement that expresses complete confidence, belief and trust in Jesus.

Jesus’ response to the Centurion confirms that the disposition of genuine humility is very important if we are to have a real relationship with God. Jesus simply says, “It shall be done because you trusted.”

Real “trust” in God and “humility” are key dispositions that we must cultivate if we truly wish to spiritually grow. The cultivation of these dispositions is a real challenge. The thing that stops us from cultivating these two dispositions is, of course, self-centeredness and our desire to have life a certain way instead of accepting the life that comes to us. Why do I say this? Because if we trust in God then whatever comes to us in life is meant to help us spiritually grow and become God’s children. We may have to face things that we would rather not face but, because we trust in God, we see all of life’s challenges as truly opportunities given to us, out of love, to grow.

In order to truly trust, we must have a certain degree of humility. A proud person cannot trust anyone. Pride makes us self-centered and causes us to believe that we, and only we, know what is best for us.
Much to think about.

Understanding Our Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church — 20170702

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As I have shared, the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church came into union with the Catholic Church of Rome through the Union of Brest-Litovsk. A Papal Bull was issued by the pope that recites the events which led to the union, the arrival of six Ruthenian bishops at Rome, their abjuration, and the concessions made by the Roman Church. The Ruthenians were to retain their own rite, saving such customs as were opposed to the purity of Catholic doctrine and incompatible with the communion of the Roman Church. From the 9th century, the “land of the Rus”, which was known later as Kievan Rus, was known in Western Europe by a variety of names. From the 12th century Rus was usually known in Western Europe by the Latinised name Ruthenia. In their broadest usage, Ruthenians were used to refer to peoples now called Belarusians, Russians, and Ukrainians.

On February 7, 1596, Pope Clement VIII addressed to the Ruthenian episcopate the Brief “Benedictus sit Pastor ille bonus”, enjoining the convocation of a synod in which the Ruthenian bishops were to recite the profession of the Catholic Faith. Various letters were also sent to the Polish king, princes, and magnates exhorting them to receive the Ruthenians under their protection. A second Bull, “Decet Romanum pontificem”, dated 23 Februray, 1596, defined the rights of the Ruthenian episcopate and their relations in subjection to the Holy See.

It was agreed that the “Filioque” should not be inserted in the Nicene Creed, although the Ruthenian clergy professed and taught the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son. The bishops asked to be dispensed from the obligation of introducing the Gregorian Calendar, so as to avoid popular discontent and dissensions, and insisted that the king should grant them, as of right, the dignity of senators. This union was strongly supported by the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, Sigismund III Vasa, but opposed by some bishops and prominent nobles of Rus, and perhaps most importantly, by the nascent Cossack movement for Ukrainian self-rule. The result was “Rus fighting against Rus,” and the splitting of the Church of Rus into Greek Catholic and Greek Orthodox jurisdictions.

By the end of the 18th century, the modern Ukrainian language had been codified and so the name for those connected with Kiev were no longer called Ruthenian. There did remain a portion of the area, Carpathian Ruthenia, which retained the name Ruthenians or Rusyns. Many in the Byzantine Catholic Church are Rusyns.

The Divine Liturgy and Our Worship of God — 20170702

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Someone asked me once, why do you Ukrainian Greek-Catholics sing so very much? My response was two-fold. First we like to sing and second when we approach Almighty God, Who is greater than any king or emperor, we show Him honor by communicating in the greatest form possible, musical prayer.

Man’s ability to sing and create music is one of his greatest abilities. We use this great ability to make our interaction with God special. Of course there are prayers that are recited just because they are more difficult to sing and, some prayers, like the Creed, are so important that we want to make sure that all feel comfortable praying them. There are several of the priestly prayers that are recited so that all may truly find it easier to understand them. But in general we sing our prayers of worship to honor our great King.

I have also been asked why we don’t genuflect. In the East, kings and emperors were never genuflected to but rather a bow was made to them to show respect. So we bow our heads to show respect to our God and then we also cross ourselves, praising the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Someone recently asked me: When is it proper to cross ourselves? We cross ourselves whenever we hear the names of our God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Should we cross ourselves when the priest turns and blesses us? It is personal preference. Traditionally a priest’s blessing is received by simply bowing to him in thanks. He, you will notice, bows to you when you sing: “and with your spirit.” This tradition is followed because the names of our God are not said at that time. But again, the Eastern Church does not hold uniformity sacred.

Another person asked me, When are we supposed to stand, kneel and sit. The books don’t always give us the directions. Again uniformity is really not important. We must remember that “pews” with kneelers only became popular here in the states and that it was Protestantism that introduced pews. The true Eastern tradition was to stand throughout the Liturgy and, if one was tired or older, to sit at seats against the side walls. Even the major Western Catholic churches in Europe don’t have permanent pews.

I think that it is important that we feel we can respond to the various parts of the Liturgy the way that we want. Of course if you are sitting and someone in front of you is standing, it blocks your view. We should be guided by courtesy and the Spirit.

FROM OUR DEACON CANDIDATE — 20170702

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Continuing the Subject of the Arian Heresy

TOPIC: CHRISTOLOGY
By Len Mier

The Nicaean Creed states our belief the Jesus Christ is eternally begotten of the Father before all ages and not created. It also describes Him in the philosophical terms and poetic imagery that the one Lord Jesus Christ is Light of Light, very God of very God. And being of one essence with the Father. This places Jesus as equal to the Father as God.

This issue did linger on for several more centuries due to intervention of the emperors imposing their beliefs as well as their courtiers’ beliefs on the Church regarding this issue. Eventually a strict Arian belief did disappear in the Church.

There are several Semi-Arian belief systems that are still present. The Jehovah Witnesses are said to be Semi-Arian in that they believe Jesus is not truly God but is His only-begotten produced by Him Alone and the first born in creation by which other things were made. The Jehovah Witnesses give the same divine prerogative to Jesus and do not pray to Jesus but see him as the prime mediator to God.

It can also be said that Islam has some Arianism in its teaching. Jesus is in Islam a prophet of God but does not believe that there is any divinity present in Jesus. The Koran explicitly states in verse 112, “God neither begets nor is He begotten”. This leaves the nature of Jesus to a purely human state.
It is one of the triumphs of orthodoxy that through the use of Scripture, Tradition and philosophical language the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council created a framework of understanding and a creedal statement of belief was formed. The framework stating that Arius’ beliefs were not the true beliefs the Church pro-fesses as in who and what Jesus is in relation to God the Father and that Jesus is equal to the Father.

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If you have followed Len’s presentation, you will see that the seminary is truly challenging him to think about what it is that we actually believe. I would exhort those who are following the essays that he has to submit, to think about the topic he is writing about. Who do YOU say Jesus it?
I believe the only thing that we can truly say is that we believe that Jesus is equally God as are the Father and the Holy Spirit. How this is possible, since Jesus is also equally human, is a mystery and truly beyond human comprehension. It is, however, something that we say we believe. Our faith tells us that Jesus was and is FULLY GOD and FULLY MAN and that His existence as God did not dictate how His existence as a human being thought or acted. His thinking and acting as a human being was completely and totally free since He had a FREE WILL as all humans do. If this wasn’t true, He could never be a MODEL to us humans as to how we should think and act if we want to gain the fullness of life.
When God created us, He provided us with a way to freely grow in our “likeness” of Jesus and to fulfill the purpose of human life, namely to become spiritual, adopted children of God.
WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE?

A POTPOURRI OF RELIGIOUS IDEAS — 20170702

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The true goal of Eastern Christian spirituality is a mystical life of union with God, then the path to it includes the ascent that leads to this peak. As I have said so many times, “Life’s journey is an Ascension to the Heavenly Father”. As such, this path is different than the peak; yet it is organically connected to it, in the same way as the ascent of a mountain it to the peak. Only by prolonged effort, by discipline, can a greater union with God be reached. Efforts that don’t contribute to this crowning, this final greater union with God, seem to be without purpose.

Indeed the real connection between spiritual discipline and greater union with God is closer than that between the path and the goal. Even though the living of that union is realized at the final end of spiritual efforts, its aura begins in the soul beforehand, along with them.

Christian growth requires a whole series of efforts until it is at-tained. The Apostle Paul compares these strivings with the training that athletes employ to get in shape in or-der to win. Without referencing the particular word asceticism ( i.e., the manner of life, practices, or principles of an ascetic; the doctrine that a person can attain a high spiritual and moral state by practicing self-denial, self-mortification; rigorous self-denial; abstinence) St. Paul used the image of the ancient physical exercises to characterize the efforts made by the Christian to reach greater spiritual growth. Also, St. Clement of Alexandria and Origen later introduced the terms of asceticism and ascetic. Little by little in the East they gained a monastic coloring. Monasteries are called askitiria, places for physical training. The ascetic is the monk who strives to obtain greater spiritual growth by observing all the rules of restraint or temperance through cleansing from the passions. Origen calls zealous Christians ascetics; persons who discipline themselves to mortify the passions and develop good habits that lead to greater union with God.

St. Neilos the Ascetic gives us a detailed comparison of the spiritual ascetic with the athlete in the arena. Asceticism then is that part of spirituality that deals with the rules and efforts that bring a person to the first step of the ascent to perfection, to contemplation and union with God. It is the active part of the spiritual life, the self-coercion and cooperative that God requires of us.

CALLED TO HOLINESS — 20170702

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Another understanding of the “call to holiness” is a call to grow in our “likeness of Jesus” – to actualize our potential that God has given us to truly be His Children. It is our faith-based understanding that God had a definite purpose in creating humankind. Humanity was not an “accident”. Creation would not have been complete without the creation of human beings. Why do I say this? Because humans exist. Nothing exists that was not meant by God when He brought all things into existence.

I believe that one clue about why human beings exist can be found in our Christian understanding of God. We Christians believe that God is Three-In-One and that the power that binds the three into unity is LOVE. True love is creative and needs to be expressed. True unconditional love doesn’t exist if there is no one to whom that love is directed. The Father loves the Son and this love, which is the Spirit, is expressed by the Son returning the love of the Father. God unconditionally loves His creation and calls His creation to return His love. His love is returned when His creation exists in a manner which He intended when He created it. This is why we say there is a “natural law” that governs all creation. All things that are brought into existence by God have a natural pattern of existence. Humans, because God has given us “free will”, can choose not to live the way that God intended us to live when He created us. He took the chance of giving us a free will because He desired us to “freely” return His love. Much like the love that exists between Him and the Son, which is freely given and received, that is the type of love He has extended to us. This is why we experience the fullness of life when we freely return His love and live and think in a manner which is in the likeness of that of Jesus, the Christ.

Gaining a Deeper Understanding of the New Testament — 20170702

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A fascinating instance of how this exclusive position was attained by the four Gospels that are a part of the Canon of the New Testament (NT), is presented in the story of Serapion, bishop of Antioch (ca 190 CE). Serapion discovered that in Rhossus people read the Gospel of Peter, but he forbade them to use it because he found Docetist heresy in it. This story illustrates two things: First, the public reading of the Gospels, particularly in the Liturgy, was one of the factors that won acceptance for them in the Church, and church authorities became very sensitive if a gospel not known to them was being read. Second, the use of apocryphal gospels by heretics was a factor in narrowing the canon to four gospels. Also, the attitude of the archheretic Marcion in accepting only Luke, may have been influential in causing the Church to preserve the four Gospels. From ca 200 the four Gospels had an assured place in the Greek and Western churches. As Oregin puts it, there are four Gospels, “which are undeniably authentic in the Church of God on earth.” The Syrian church, however, preferred the use of the Diatessaron in the 3rd and 4th centuries, adopting the four Gospels only in the 5th century.

As I have attempted to present, the Pauline letters and the Gospels – two separate bodies of early Christian literature, were included in the Canon of the NT for a variety of reasons. Perhaps the thought that both types of literature stemmed from apostolic witnesses was a factor in causing them to be joined in the canon of the NT. The first instance of such a joining appears in the work of Marcion, who made ten epistles and Luke the basis of his theology.
We are fortunate to have at least some knowledge, however sketchy, about the formation of the Pauline and Gospel collections, but we are very poorly informed about the collections of the remainder of the NT works. This lack of information presents a difficulty similar to that presented by the third group of Old Testament (OT) works – the writings – in the study of the OT canon (this refers to the Wisdom Literature).

But let me continue with the NT canon. The first work considered is ACTS.
The traditional view of ACTS is that Luke composed the Gospel and ACTS at the same time (i.e., 80’s CE – though some scholars prefer the 60’s). However, Luke and ACTS were not preserved as a unit. Marcion accepted only the Gospel, and it is interesting that ACTS really came into frequent use after Marcion’s error. Some scholars believe that ACTS was written much later than Luke’s Gospel.

More to follow!

Learning Our Faith From the Greek Fathers of the Church — 20170702

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Gregory states about the Persons of God: There was never a time when there was not a Father, A Son and a Holy Spirit. The Father has always been unbegotten, the Son always begotten and the Spirit always proceeding from the Father together with the Son. Gregory describes this unique relationship of love using the special technical theological vocabulary of unbegotten, begotten, and proceeding and states that these processes are beyond the sphere of time and above the grasp of reason.

If this relationship is above time, how are Father, Son and Spirit “not alike unoriginates”? Further, that is, the very language of begetting and proceeding seems to demand some kind of beginning for the Son and the Holy Spirit. Here Gregory turns to the well-known patristic illustration of the sun and its rays.

Yes, the Son and Spirit find their origin in the Father, who is “unoriginate.” Yet the “origin” of the Son and Spirit is eternal and timeless without beginning and without end. Neither comes into existence after the Father. The analogy of the sun and its rays illustrates this point. Can one image the sun as existing apart from the light rays it constantly emits? The rays find their source, their origin, in the sun. Still, the rays and the sun came into existence at the same time. The rays are not “after” the sun. They are part and parcel of what it means to be the sun. Granted the analogy does break down when referring to Trinitarian relationships, for the Trinity has always existed outside of time. Still, the analogy serves well in illustrating what the church means when it teaches that the Son and Spirit find their origin in the Father. The Father must beget the Son and spirate the Spirit, just as the sun must shed light.

All this exhorts us to decide how we see God. Have you ever thought about how you see God? Who is He? What is He alike?

The doctrine of God as Trinity is truly a major advance I mankind’s understanding of God – of the Supreme Being Who is the Creator of all creation. Prior to Jesus Christ, mankind saw this Supreme Being as Creator but not connected to His creation in any significant manner. The one God of Judaism and Islam is a God Who is completely separate from His creation. The God of Christianity is intimately connected with His creation. The life-force of God, according to Christian thought, vivifies all of creation, calling and sustaining it in existence. We are joined to our Creator.