Learning About the Practices of Our Religion — 20140622

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In his teaching about the Eucharist, Chrysostom makes use of traditional ways of looking at things, ways that found their genesis in the Old Testament (OT). He saw the events of the New Testament (NT) prefigured in the OT. In the NT itself Christ’s death and resurrection are seen as the fulfillment of the Exodus – Moses leading the Jewish people out of slavery in Egypt. Something that I have repeated shared with you. What God did for the Israelites when he led them out of slavery into the Promised Land pointed forward to that greater Exodus, when through the blood of the true paschal Lamb he brought the whole human race out of slavery to sin into the liberty of his children. The saving acts of Christ are themselves made present in the Mysteries (Sacraments), those rituals that make Christ present in the basic events of life (e.g., birth, death, forgiveness, sickness, commitment [marriage and ordination], forgiveness), which both enable each generation to appropriate God’s salvation, and point forward to its consummation at the end of time. Chrysostom taught his congregation to see the Eucharist prefigured in the sacrifice of Melchisedech, who brought gifts of bread and wine to be offered to God; in the paschal lamb, whose blood daubed on their doorposts saved the Israelites when the first-born of Egypt were slain; in the manna, by which they were sustained in the wilderness; and in the Jewish sacrifices offered under the old covenant.

Chrysostom lays particular stress on the Eucharist as the Remembrance or anamnesis of the many things God has done for us, and especially of the sacrifice of the Cross. He urged his congregation to realize that at the Eucharist they are truly in the Upper Room. It is Christ who presides, as at the Last Supper; and when the priest gives them communion, they must understand it to be the hand of Christ Himself which reaches out to them (this is one reason why the Eastern Church only allows ordained persons [priests or deacons] to distribute Communion so that the symbolism might be maintained of Christ being the distributor of Communion). The Eucharist is an imitation of the death of Christ, and a participation in it. He even uses the Liturgy in this sense to refute heretics who doubt the sacrificial death of Christ: let them be referred to the mysteries, where that sacrifice is present. The incarnation too is present: those who come to the Eucharist in faith will see the Lord lying in the manger, represented by the Holy Table, not wrapped in swaddling clothes but surrounded by the Holy Spirit. He teaches his people to understand the Eucharist as a participation in the worship of heaven. The angels, who are always present in the church, are especially there when the Liturgy is being celebrated.

Learning Our Faith from the Church Fathers — 20140622

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Maximus the Confessor, one of the great Fathers of the Eastern Church, rejoices in the incarnation of God in the person of Jesus Christ as the opening up of previously hidden ways by which a human being may finally arrive at the fullness of God, Himself. Maximus is acutely aware, nonetheless, of the real reciprocal responsibility on the part of the human    being. According to him, our salvation is contingent upon our will – salvation comes to those who desire it and are willing to change their hearts and minds in order to be able to participate with God in the achievement of an unity with Him.

Think about what Maximus suggests. He says that God offers an invitation to join with Him in opening our awareness to the meaning and purpose of life and to work with Him in order to develop a stronger union with Him. This makes absolute sense! God created us with a free will. Therefore our salvation must be the product of our free will actions in union with God. God will do all that He can to support us in the pursuit of our salvation BUT we must do our part. He does not force salvation on us! He will only cooperate with us in achieving union with Him.

The Confessor’s deepest conviction has “God providing equally to all the power that naturally leads to salvation, so that each one who wishes can be transformed by divine grace”. God wants us to achieve salvation – knowledge of what it means to be a human being and understanding the meaning and purpose of life. He will not, however, force this on us but, rather, will only give us help IF we desire to achieve salvation.

So each of us must ask ourselves: Do I really want salvation? Do I really want to know why I am here on this earth and have to live through all the things which are a natural part of human life? Until I begin to be curious about human life and why it is the way that it is, I will not be saved – salvation will not be mine. The appropriation of divinization is in direct correlation with one’s degree of spiritual appreciation and discernment. By realizing his or her natural freedom, the human being might become a child of God.

Hence, in Maximus’ view, God will recognize and divinize His own, that is, those who willfully employ their true nature – those who voluntarily and deliberately develop a desire to be saved and come to a deeper understanding of the meaning and purpose of life. If you just coast through life without thinking about the purpose of life, you will never come to know that this life is given to us in order to help us learn what it means to be a child of God.

Getting to Know Something About Our Greek Catholic Faith — 20140622

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johnthebaptistThis coming week (June 24th) our Church celebrates the birth of St. John the Baptizer. Among all the saints whom the Eastern Church venerates, John holds a unique place. He alone, with the exception of the Mother of God, has feasts which honor his conception, birth and death (i.e., beheading). That he holds great esteem in the Eastern Church is seen in the fact that during the Church Year there are six specific feasts that are celebrated in his honor.

John is outstanding in the history of salvation because he stands on the border of the Old and New Testaments. He closes the doors on the prophets and opens them to the Apostles. He is not only a prophet but also a precursor of Christ, a baptizer and a martyr.

A direct relative to Jesus through the family of Mary, His mother, John serves as the one who prepares the way for the ministry of Jesus. In fact John is the first to articulate the theme of Jesus’ ministry: Repent (change your hearts and minds) for the Kingdom of God is at hand. We know that after John’s beheading, Jesus begins His ministry by proclaiming this same message!

The life of John was an unbroken chain of sacrifice and penance. He preached to the people new doctrines never proclaimed before by any prophet: a baptism of repentance, the nearness of the kingdom of God, the presence among them of Jesus, their Messiah and Savior. He truly prepared the way for Jesus!

We know that John fearlessly exposed and denounced all sin and scandal. He intrepidly addressed the proud Pharisees and censured the royal house of Herod. His holy life and teaching was crowned by his heroic death – he was beheaded. He fell like a soldier at his post, giving up his life for the highest ideals: the service of God and his people. Therefore, he remains for all times an everlasting symbol of a heroic champion of all that is holy, courageous and sublime.

In the East, the cult of St. John is very ancient and popular. His nativity, the feast that we celebrate this coming week, is the greatest of all the feasts that are dedicated to him. It was already known in the fourth century. The feast of his nativity replaced the pre-Christian feast of kupalo which was celebrated in the Slavic lands – a feast which ended the summer solstice cycle. This feast dealt with honoring the sun as the life-giver. It is fitting that John’s birth has taken the place of this feast!

The Spirituality of the Christian East — 20140622

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I have been sharing with you, my readers, the thoughts of Theophan the Recluse about what it means to be human. He asserts that we humans are, if we do not make a decision to think about God and our salvation, people who experience a certain emptiness of mind, will and heart. The only way that we can change this is by making a decision to focus our attention on building our relationship with God. When we do this, the emptiness we experience is somehow mitigated.

Theophan states that if you look at a sinner’s inward disposition and outward state, you will find that sometimes the sinner knows much but is blind with regards to their works of God and the matters of his salvation. It will be evident, Theophan states, that though he is incessantly trouble, he is not active with respect to the establishment of his salvation.

As I shared with you last week, when a person responds to the call to holiness, he/she is saved – salvation becomes real. It takes an act of the will! We have to want to focus our attention on salvation and make an effort to know God.

Theophan states that even though a sinner may experience the emptiness and have a desire to escape this emptiness, he/she is completely dead and insensitive to anything that deals with the spiritual. The sinner becomes earth-bound, only thinking about the things of this present earthly life and forgets about the spiritual dimension.

Again, the only thing that can change this is a voluntary decision to choose to focus on the spiritual dimension – to direct our attention to God and salvation. It means thinking about our future life after our physical death – to think about our eternal life.

Each of us must ask ourselves: Do I think about my spiritual life and about God? Am I concerned about spiritual growth? If not, why not? I would extend to each of my readers a call to holiness!

Sunday June 15, 2014

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Your Church throughout the world, O Lord, is clothed with the blood of Your Martyrs as with fine linens and purple robes; and so the Church cries out to You, O Christ our God:  “Send down Your goodness upon Your people; grant peace to Your Church and great mercy to our souls.

allsaintsThe eighth weekend after Easter, that is, the first weekend after Pentecost, recalls the memory of all saints. This weekend completes the cycle of moveable feasts. On this day our Church pays particular veneration to all those who are the fruit of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. To be a saint means to be a person who has truly recognized that God’s Spirit resides within him and directs him to live in accord with the teachings of Jesus.

The veneration of the saints began with the death of the first martyrs. In later centuries the cult of the   martyrs incorporated also the cult of the apostles, bishops, ascetics and religious of both sexes – all persons who we judge, from accounts of their lives, to have lived like Christ. They are people who we believe, after considering an account of their lives, lived like Jesus lived (i.e., they are people who embraced Jesus as a model of their thinking and behaving). Emperor Constantine the Great (+337) built in Constantinople a church dedicated to the memory of the saints.

Before long, the cult of the New Testament saints was extended to include persons from the Old Testament.

Our church calendar dedicates each day in the year to one or more saints or classes of saints. There are multitudes of saints in heaven whose names are not recorded in the Church Calendar.

 The feast of All Martyrs was kept in the Greek Church even during the time of John Chrysostom (+407). A eulogy in their honor, delivered by him on the first Sunday after Pentecost, remains extant: Seven days had not yet passed, he says, since we celebrated the holy feast of Pentecost and once again the choir of martyrs received us, the faithful warriors and army, who do not yield to the army of angels, whom Jacob had seen, but are equally zealous and equal to them.  

We commemorate All Saints as a way to profess our belief that, after death, all people are alive in God. The people we call saints, are additional models for us about how to live this life. We honor all saints because their lives indicate to us that we can, if only we believe and desire, live like Christ. Other humans did it. We can do it likewise.

 O holy saints, pray for us!

Learning Our Faith from the Church Fathers — 20140615

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Perhaps the greatest contribution the Eastern Fathers of the Church have made to Christianity is found in two different areas: (1) the dogma of the Church (the thinking of the Eastern Fathers is the basis for the formulation of the dogmas set forth in the first seven Councils) and (2) in the formation of a truly exceptional spirituality that is so positive and enhancing of the basic goodness of humankind. For example, the profound intellectual output of Byzantium’s Maximus the Confessor presents an unparalleled balance of theology and philosophy, with faith as the moving force of all reflection. The Confessor’s spiritual experience leads him to extraordinary heights of mystical knowledge, which is the guiding life for all his intellectual endeavors. This mysticism is brought to prominence in his doctrine of divinization or deification. As I hope more of my readers already know, Theosis or Divinization is the approach to human spirituality in the East which is so very liberating of our human spirit and sense of goodness.

For Maximus, the essential conditions for fulfilling the divinizing process are the magnanimous divine initiative and willing human cooperation.  He unceasingly  glorifies divine love expressed through grace, which “out of human beings makes us gods….Nothing is more truly Godlike than divine love, nothing more mysterious, nothing more apt to raise up human beings to deification.” The greatest testament to love of God for humankind is the incarnation, whereby

 … the Creator of nature  himself… has clothed himself with our nature, without change uniting it hypostatically to himself, in order to check what has been borne away, and gather it to himself, so that, gathered to himself, our nature may no longer have any difference from him in its inclination In this way he clearly established the all glorious way of love, which is truly divine and deifying and leads to God.

I would truly encourage my readers to think about this quote from Maximus. Ask yourself whether you sense the difference between the Eastern Church’s understanding of the spiritual life and the Western Church’s understanding. I find in the Eastern Church’s approach a much different understanding of the human condition and human nature. The Confessor rejoices in the incarnation of God as the opening up of previously hidden ways by which humans may arrive at the fullness of God. Maximus was acutely aware of the reciprocal responsibility on the part of humans. He avers with confidence that “our salvation is contingent upon our will,” and “the mystery of salvation belongs to those who desire it”.                      (Think about it)

Getting to Know Something About Our Greek Catholic Faith — 20140615

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patcathI believe that we must, if we wish to understand our Greek Catholic faith, become truly familiar with the first seven Ecumenical Councils of the Church. The declarations of these Councils truly form the foundation of our faith. They are also the only Councils that both the Eastern and Western Churches acknowledge as truly Ecumenical. They are the only Councils in the History of the Church where both the Eastern and Western Churches were present.

Although I have shared information about these before, I thought that I would, over the next several weeks, share some more specific information about these Councils as a means of helping us to better know our faith.

The origins of church councils goes back to the assembly of the Apostles in Jerusalem (circa 53 CE) in which it was decided not to impose on the pagan   converts all the prescriptions of the Old Testament. Prior to this Council, all the Apostles, with the exception of Paul, required that convert males go through the initiation process of Judaism. This Council, therefore, set an example for all generations to come with regard to how to determine what is appropriate for the Church with regards faith and discipline. Following the example of the Apostles, bishops of different provinces used to gather during the first   centuries in order to reach decisions on theological and disciplinary matters that required clarification or had disturbed the consciences of the faithful. It has become the very nature of the Church to attempt to find consensus on religious matters.

This is why our Church, even in this day-and-age, attempts to hold Synods, in imitation of this desire to reach consensus among the faithful with regards to the practices of the Church. While this synodal method of governing the Church still exists, synods do not deal with faith and morals but, rather, with matters of parish life.

Why do I mention this at this time? Our own Eparchy will be holding a Synod in 2015. Two representatives from each parish, together with our bishop and priests, will meet in Synod and attempt to come to consensus with regard the types of programs our parishes should become engaged in and also the future direction of our church. This should be an exciting meeting. While we will not be dealing with the deep dogmas of our faith, we will be dealing with matters that seriously impact our Church and our parishes. I shall keep you posted on any progress we make in planning for the Synod.

It should be noted that the Eparchy of Stamford has already held their first     Eparchial Synod.

Gaining a Deeper Understanding of the New Testament — 20140615

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In the last issue of this article, I began sharing thoughts about St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians from the author Marcus Borg. Given that Paul was in prison and uncertain about whether he would be executed, it is remarkable that the letter is so filled with the language of joy and rejoicing. They are among Paul’s favorite words when he speaks of life in Christ and are especially prominent in this letter.

One of the most important and best-known passages in this letter speaks of imitating the life that we see in Jesus. Paul writes:

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus who, although he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,    being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

This is an extraordinary passage. It crystallizes Paul’s understanding of the Good News: what we see in Jesus is self-emptying, obedience to God and an acceptance of the challenges that life presents.

Most scholars see this passage as   containing an early Christian hymn that Paul either wrote or quotes in his letter. If it is a hymn that Paul knew his hearers would recognize, it provides a glimpse into how early Christian communities celebrated and remembered Jesus and the significance of his life and death. And if it is not hymn, it still tells us what Paul thought was mot central about Jesus. Follow him; live the life you see in him, for he is Lord, and the lords of this world are not.

I wonder what we would think if we really thought this letter was being written to us. One of the problems I see is that we often listen to these letters of Paul and, because we think they were written to a different group of people, we don’t personalize them. One of the real ways to listen to Paul’s writings and the Gospel is by focusing our attention on them as if they were being addressed directly to us. When we listen to this letter of the Philippians, we must feel as if we were a part of the

Near the end of the letter Paul urges US to follow what we have learned by his sharing of his thought on the necessity to imitate Christ. When he wrote this letter he thought it might be his farewell letter. If, however, we locate this letter during his imprisonment in Ephesus, he was released and lived for several more years. This letter was not his last.

The Spirituality of the Christian East — 20140615

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Theophan, as I shared, believed that the person who neglects his desire for God and his own salvation (i.e., sinner) will remain in a ceaseless whirl of the three types of emptiness forever (i.e., emptiness of mind, will and heart) if he were left alone, for such is the nature of our slavery to   sin. But this whirling is intensified and complicated a thousand times because there are other people who also seek only those things that can gratify their own desires. There are many in our society who only desire the things of this world and serve as a magnate drawing the sinner ever deeper into the vortex of emptiness causing the sinner to ever increase his love for possessions and self-indulgence.

Think about it. The very first time a   person gives into temptation reduces his ability to later resist temptation. Humans quickly become oblivious to their attraction to those things that give them pleasure and become ever increasingly absorbed in the pursuit of pleasure.

Theophan asserts that worldly pleasures can quickly be the ruin of one’s spirit. Being actively united with this entire world, every sinner falls into its broad nets, wraps himself in them, and is so deeply buried that he cannot be seen. A heavy burden lies upon the sinner, that lover of this world. He has no power to move or stir, not even a little. He cannot do anything that is not in accordance with the spirit of this world.

While this all sounds quite depressing, I know, there is a way to live in this world and yet not become obsessed by it. The way is the Way of Jesus. He lived in the world and yet did not let the world distract Him from His commitment to worship of the Father and love for His fellowman. It is something, however, that every human can do if he/she only embraces the way of living that Jesus modeled. It means, however, that we have to decide what is important to us. Is God important to you? Is your salvation important to you? If it is, then you will try to live like Jesus lived.

Learning About the Practices of Our Religion — 20140615

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In the last issue of this article I tried to encourage all of my readers to seriously consider, if they are not already doing it, to get into the practice of remembering both living and deceased people, by name, during the Divine Liturgy. There is a specific point in the Liturgy where this is done. This practice truly enhances one’s worship.

I would now like to briefly consider how worshippers understood the Liturgy during the time of John Chrysostom. I share this in an effort to have you, my readers, consider your understanding of the Divine Liturgy. Read the following and then ask yourself: What is my understanding of what transpires when I participate in the Divine Liturgy.

The understanding of the early church was first of all shaped by the prayers of the ritual, especially the Anaphora. If they listened attentively to the Anaphora of  Basil, or that of John, they knew that they were engaged in offering a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to God for all His mighty acts in creation and redemption, and above all for the passion, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, and his coming again in glory. They knew, too, that these saving events were commemorated by the offering of the bread and wine, which through the invocation of the Holy Spirit on them, as well as on the worshippers, become the Body and Blood of Christ, which they received for the remission of sins and eternal life in God’s Kingdom. United with the Mother of God and all the saints they interceded for the living and the departed, and knew themselves to be partakers in the mystical banquet which anticipated the fulfillment of God’s plan of salvation.

But, the prayers of the Liturgy were not the only formative influence on their understanding of the ritual. When they became Christians they attended a series of lectures on the rites of initiation (i.e., the Mysteries of Baptism, Chrismation and Holy Eucharist). Most of us were initiated into the Church as infants and, perhaps, have never had the experience of learning about the Liturgy (This is one of the reasons why I have included this article in my Bulletins).

Chrysostom regularly speaks of the Eucharist as a mystery. In Paul’s writings mystery meant the whole plan of God for our salvation. Following Origen, John Chrysostom calls that which we do a mystery when we see one thing and believe another. What is seen, heard and touched in the Eucharist can be seen but not understood by the senses. There is nothing that we can see that tells us the bread and wine we pray over is somehow transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ. This is only something that we can know by faith.                        (More to follow)