Learning About the Practices of Our Religion – 20140406

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supper_01I have, in this article, been providing a basic description of the first recorded    Liturgy, the Liturgy of Clementine. The core of the Liturgy was a rather lengthy and eccentric thanksgiving for creation.  This represents, however, the early church’s understanding of the Eucharist. It actually predominated the Eucharistic practice in the first three centuries. In the verbal thanksgiving for creation, the early Church enfolded the offering of bread and wine in accordance with Christ’s command – Do this in remembrance of Me.

A different tradition developed in the first century in Jerusalem. It was Cyril of Jerusalem who restructured the core part of the thanksgiving service – the part we call the anaphora. In Cyril’s rendition of the anaphora, God is asked to

send down upon this sacrifice Your Holy Spirit, the witness of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus, that He may declare (or make) this bread the Body of Your Christ, and this cup the Blood of Your Christ, that they who partake thereof may be strengthened in godliness, may receive remission of their sins, may be filled with the Holy Spirit, may become worthy of Your Christ, and may obtain eternal life, You being reconciled unto them, O Master Almighty.

After this prayer, a comprehensive intercession for the Church followed which included all those considered to be members of the Church (e.g,, clergy, military and governmental personnel). The entire anaphora was then concluded with a Trinitarian doxology and the Amen of the people, which expressed the agreement of the people with that which was prayed by the clergy.

While the first part of the anaphora of St. Cyril reflects the traditional emphasis of the Eucharist as an offering of praise, the latter part reflect the newer interest of the fourth century in offering a propitiatory (i.e., supplicatory or make atonement for) sacrifice. In the Liturgy of Clementine, the newer tradition was     already combined with the older and the resulting pattern of the eucharistic prayer became that of all subsequent Eastern anaphoras.

The older and new concepts of the Eucharist, which both contributed to the shape of the Eastern anaphora, continued to coexist in Byzantine Eucharistic theology. Theologians spoke of Christ, now as the invisible celebrant of the Liturgy, offering the sacrifice of all the Church, now as the passive victim offered by the Church to God in order to propitiate Him. The later prayer of the Great Entrance combined them verbally when it said of Christ: For it is you who offer and are offered.

The development of the Liturgy is truly fascinating.
A Question: What does the Liturgy mean to you?

Called To Holiness — 20140406

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Recognizing my uniqueness as a human being and having a desire to be holy doesn’t make me holy. While these are essential for my quest for holiness, they have to also be augmented by deliberate action.

By deliberate action I mean this: the development and implementation of a conscious and purposeful plan to become holy. Such a plan must include the things that I will do in order to achieve my goal.

When you read the lives of the saints you find that they all set about doing certain things that they felt would lead them to holiness. The things they have typically included are:
image332(1) prayer;
(2) acts of kindness;
(3) periodic fasting;
(4) Scripture and other spiritual reading;
(5) almsgiving;
(6) spiritual direction; and
(7) acts of mercy.
Most saints have included a mixture of these acts, specifically done with the intention of growing in holiness.

It is important that we are not misguided in our attempts to become holy. Just giving up things or doing things will not lead to holiness if we don’t engage in these actions with the specific intention of growing in holiness. In fact I would caution the idea of giving up things. Too frequently this approach tends to engender the idea that if I suffer or punish myself that God will love me more or that I will atone for my sins and be holy.

The fact of the matter is that I need to choose to do acts that I believe will lead to holiness.

It is also important, I believe, that we should feel comfortable in actually choosing the actions that we believe will focus our efforts in becoming holy. When we have a desire to be holy, God never second guesses our choice of actions. Our intention is critical. Like all Church actions and rituals, they are conducive to holiness if we intend to do them for the sake helping us in becoming holy.

I am also aware of the fact that in order to develop a conscious and purposeful plan to become holy I must also give up my human fear that holiness will change me so much that I won’t recognize myself. I truly believe that many people are afraid of becoming holy because they have misguided notions of what holiness is and also very misguided notions of who the saints are. Remember that holiness will not result in you becoming perfect!

Only one human is perfect. His name is Jesus, the Christ!

A Look at the New Testament – St. Paul – 20140406

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In the last issue of this article I began sharing ideas about Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, the third letter to be written and included in the canon of the New Testament (NT). Paul’s first letter attempted to address certain divisions in the community that were reported to him. He had already left the community.

12_stpaulicon_270There were divisions within the community between the “rich” and the “rest” (same old divisions that we still see today). The letter tells us that few were wealthy: “Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.” But obviously some were. In this respect, the Christ-community in Corinth may have been an exception among Paul’s communities. It was mostly made up of urban workers, many of them God-fearers from the merchant and artisan classes. Some were prosperous enough to have become Paul’s patrons and benefactors. Although not from the super-wealthy class, they may have been what we might call “well-to-do.”

This conflict surfaces in chapter 11 and is the context for what Paul writes about the meaning of the common meal that he calls the “Lord’s supper.” This is actually the earliest reference about the special sacramental meal at the center of Christian worship.

It should be remembered that in the first century the Lord’s Supper was an actual meal. It was not just a piece of bread and a sip of wine. It was a full meal shared in common by the community. During this meal;, bread and wine would be prayed over and declared as the Body and Blood of Christ. What we now call the Divine Liturgy was part of a common meal in imitation of what happened at the original Last Supper.

We do not know how often, however, these early Christian communities shared this meal. It is thought that the community would have a common meal at least weekly, following the rhythm of the Sabbath. It may have been shared on a Sunday rather than on a Friday evening as in Jewish tradition.

It seems, however, that in Corinth the meal ceased to be a common meal. The wealthy would gather early for the meal. By the time the working people got to the meal, the wealth had already eaten and some, because there was also drinking of wine, were tipsy. They may have also served the best wine and best food to themselves before the others arrived. Such was common among the wealthy in the world at that time. This, of course, violated Paul’s understanding of the Church as the one “Body of Christ.” It is for this reason that Paul included in this first letter a condemnation of the practice of the wealthy.

Learning Our Faith from the Church Fathers – 20140406

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In order to reach the goal of Theosis, prayer, humble service, meditation and similar exercises are not only necessary but also highly recommended. The notion of merit – that is that we can do anything to merit union with God – is truly foreign to the Eastern tradition. While it is true that Eastern tradition indicates that cooperation with the workings of God’s Spirit is essential in order to achieve Theosis, this does not mean that we can merit Theosis. In general, the attitude of Eastern tradition towards grace (God’s help) and free will is less reserved than in Western tradition. In the East, the question of free will has never had the urgency that it assumed in the West from the time of Augustine. The Eastern tradition never separates grace and human freedom. Therefore, the charge of Pelagianism (i.e., that grace is a reward for the merit of the human will) is not fair. It is not a question of merit, but of cooperation, of synergy of the two wills, divine and human. “Grace is a presence of God within us which demands constant effort on our part.” One of the Eastern Fathers has stated that “The Holy Spirit, acting within us, accomplishes with us our salvation” and that “being assisted by grace, man accomplishes the work of his salvation.”

I suspect that this distinction might be difficult to understand. What is being said is that when we truly cooperate with God’s Spirit we can achieve greater union with God.

One of the distinctive characteristics of Eastern theology is in captured in the following: the early Christian understanding of creation and of man’s ultimate destiny is truly inseparable from the    power of the Holy Spirit working in creation. It has always been the task of the Eastern wing of the church to keep alive this orientation of the continual working of God’s Spirit in creation. Creation itself is sustained in existence by the active power of God’s Spirit.

Some Eastern theologians have stressed that this emphasis on the Holy Spirit actively working to keep all things in existence has been lost in the West as greater emphasis has been placed on the role of Christ in salvation history. A truly healthy attitude about human salvation needs a balance between the work of Christ and of the Spirit.

Since the divine Spirit is the Giver of Life, His main work in salvation is the divinization of human beings. So the role of the Holy Spirit in Eastern soteriology (doctrine of salvation through Jesus Christ) is highlighted by the ultimate goal of salvation which is Theosis. Salvation has as its ultimate realization union with God in the age to come – the deification of the created beings whom Christ saved.

The Spirituality of the Christian East – 20140406

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As we know, and Theophan affirms, the beginning of the Christian life is truly “established in baptism”.  It is a ritual which initiates us into a way of living and believing – into the Church of Christ. God, we believe, has given the Church the ability to provide us with help in living as Jesus lived.

Initiation alone, however, is not effective in helping a  person live as Jesus lived. To embrace the Jesus way of living one must become committed to embracing the way of thinking and living espoused by the Church, the community that believes that Jesus revealed the way God intended people to live in order to spiritually grow and experience the fullness of life.

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Theophan suggests that a good number of initiated persons do not learn how to live like Jesus lived either because their parents didn’t take the time to bring them to church and make sure that they received a religious education OR they were seduced by society and its values. Many people seem to think that it is sufficient to just be initiated into the Church – that is receive the Mysteries of Baptism, Chrismation and Holy Eucharist. While these Mysteries open the doors to the Jesus Way, they do not force a person to embrace this Way. It should be pointed out that simple attendance at the Liturgy and the reception of Communion does not guarantee that we will be personally transformed. We must cooperate with the help that comes from God when we do these things. Thoughtful attendance at Church and humble reception of Holy Communion can greatly assist us in finding the ability to live like Jesus lived – to live as God intended us, as human    beings, to live.

Frequently our society can distract us from a real commitment to living the Way of Jesus. Our personal goal must be to live in accord with our beliefs and faith. Ask yourself: What do I believe about God and life?

Sunday March 30, 2014

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Everything is possible to a man who trusts

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These are the words spoken by Christ to the father of the possessed boy in the miracle story that we proclaim for today’s Gospel reading. Trust is essential if we are to have a relationship with God. Why? Because we cannot see Him or hear Him.

Many persons have an issue with trust in God because of their experiences with other humans and disappointments they have experienced in life. I think that this is highlighted in today’s Gospel. The father had taken his son to one of the disciples and asked for a cure. The disciple was unable to cure the boy. So the father, even when he approached Jesus, doubted that Jesus could provide a cure. He is quoted as having said to Jesus: If out of the kindness of your heart you can do anything to help us, please do!  To this Jesus is quoted as having said: If you can? Everything is possible to a man who trusts.

It would seem, since trust in God is so greatly influenced by our ability to trust in others, that the first thing we must do is learn how to trust others. This requires being open to others and always presuming positive intentionality on the part of others. If, however, you find that their intentions are not positive, simply attribute it to their limited understanding of life and don’t allow the experience to destroy your ability to trust others. In order to trust God, we have to feel that we have the ability to trust.

Another important thing to do, in order to begin to truly trust God, is to be sure that, when we ask for something from God, we also add: O Lord, although I ask this of you, I know that you will provide me with whatever You know is best for me. This is another way to simply say, as Jesus did, Not my will but thy will be done.

What usually happens is that we want something from God and, when we don’t receive what we want, we feel we can’t trust Him. The reality is that He does know what is best for us and, frequently, that is why we are not rescued from the challenges of life. When He knows that we need to be rescued from the troubles of life in order to grow, He will rescue us.

As you might immediately guess, to learn how to trust God requires that we learn how to trust others and, usually, to change the way we think. Typically people find that the greatest challenges they have had to face in life have been the most rewarding experiences. Time allows us to see the benefits of life’s problems.

This is something to think about! When we feel we cannot trust others and that our ability to even trust God is limited, it is because we are possessed by a negative spirit that can be called disappointment. Disappointment results, typically, when we don’t get our way and things don’t turn out the way we want! Think about it.

Getting to Know Something About Our Greek Catholic Faith – 20140330

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The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) is the largest Eastern Particular Church in the Catholic union of churches. The Primate of the Church holds the office of Archbishop-Major of Kyiv-Halych and All Rus, although the bishops and faithful of the church have acclaimed him a Patriarch and have requested the Patriarch of Rome to recognize his position.

The Christianity that UGCC embraces was first accepted by the Grand Prince Volodymyr the Great in 988. After the Great Schism of 1054, it was in union with Constantinople. Then, after the union of Brest-Litovsk in 1595, it entered again into union with the Patriarch of Rome.

In 1917, the area known as Rus became, temporarily, independent and known as Ukraine. Many people from this area had already immigrated to the United States and established churches. They were known as Russins. At the time of the brief independence of Ukraine, many    immigrants began calling themselves Ukrainians. Some objected and split the American Greek-Catholic Church into two separate entities: the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church and the American Byzantine-Catholic Church, also known as Ruthenians (a name given to the church from the Latin Church). In the U.S. there are approximately an equal number of bishops, priests and faithful in the two Churches. The Byzantine-Catholic Church is the only American sui juris (self-governing) Church. The Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church and other U.S. Eastern Catholic Churches have Synods in their original countries.

The UGCC is now a world-wide Church and has some 40 hierarchs in over a dozen countries on four continents. It has three metropolitans outside Ukraine. They are in the U.S., Canada and Poland.

While within Ukraine itself the UGCC is a minority faith, being a distant second to the majority of three separate Ukrainian Orthodox Churches, it is the second largest religious organization in Ukraine in terms of number of religious communities. In terms of number of faithful, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church ranks third in allegiance among the population of Ukraine.

Currently the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church is predominate in three western oblasts of Ukraine, including about half the population of Lviv. It is, however, the largest of the Eastern Catholic Churches in the U.S. The U.S.  Province is composed of the Archeparchy of Philadelphia and the Eparchies of Chicago, Parma and Stamford.

Learning About the Practices of Our Religion – 20140330

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In the previous issue of this article, I began sharing with you the Clementine Liturgy which has been preserved in the Apostolic Constitutions. It is the Liturgy that predates that of Basil the Great and John Chrysostom.

The anaphora (the central portion of the Liturgy when the consecration of the bread and wine take place) of the Clementine Liturgy is of great length and could hardly have been composed,      scholars believe, for actual parish use. This is perhaps why the Liturgy of Basil the Great has much longer priestly prayers.

The Clementine Liturgy begins with an extended thanksgiving to God for his own being, and for the creation which he brought into being through his only-begotten Son. A detailed description of the natural order based on Genesis 1 and 2 is followed by an equally detailed account of God’s work in redemption up to the collapse of the walls of Jericho. Here the thanksgiving breaks off to conclude with a mention of all the hosts of heaven, leading into the Holy, Holy, Holy. We see in the anaphora of Basil’s Liturgy, this same detailed account of the coming of Christ, His ministry and the impact His ministry has had on mankind and creation.

In Clementine’s liturgy, this prayer continues with praise for God’s holiness and that of His Son, and with a thanksgiving for the work of the incarnate Christ as far as His ascension. It then moves on to the formal commemoration of the passion and the offering of the gifts:

Wherefore we, having in remembrance the things which He for our sakes endured, give thanks to You, O God Almighty, not such as are due but such as we can, and fulfill His injunction.

 Then an account of the Last Supper follows. Then,

Therefore having in remembrance His passion and death and resurrection and His return into heaven, and His future second advent in which He shall come to judge the quick and the dead, and to give to every man according to His works, we offer unto You our King and our God, according to His injunction, this bread and this cup, giving thanks unto You through Him that You have counted us worthy to stand before You and to sacrifice unto You.

At the conclusion of this prayer, God is asked to look graciously on the gifts lying before Him and to be well pleased with them. For this part of the prayer the   compiler of the Apostolic Constitutions drew upon the early third-century Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus of Rome. You see the seeds of the Liturgies that we currently use, albeit, they have been simplified. We remember what our God has done for us out of love.

Called To Holiness — 20140330

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As I shared in the last issue of the article, the first step in the process of becoming holy is to recognize your own personal uniqueness. In recognizing this uniqueness you recognize that God has called you into existence for the express purpose of completing His creation at this present time. It means that you realize that God created you as you are. Your unique weaknesses and strengths are ordered so that you might spiritually grow in His image and likeness.

The second step in this process is to develop a true desire to grow in God’s image and likeness. You have to want, with all that is within you, to develop into the person that God intended you to become through your experience as a human here on earth. The desire has to be strong enough that you actually give first priority to your spiritual development and hold nothing else as more important.

This, I know, is not always easy. Living in this world can be challenging, distracting and confusing. We, as human beings, can be easily distracted from the essential goal of life, namely, becoming who God intended when He created us. We can only become the person God intended if we desire to become holy. This means, of course, that we believe that there is a meaning and purpose to life. We do not just randomly come into existence and then, when the time comes, just disappear into nothingness. While I know that some people do believe this, I refuse to believe this because, as I look at creation, I see purpose, design and intelligence at work. I find it difficult to believe, when I look at creation, that creation came into existence as a random accident or event.

So if there is an intelligence behind creation, I believe that this intelligence has also infused into creation a true meaning and purpose. I believe that intelligence is the Person I call our Triune God. I also believe that the Person Jesus is God Himself in human form Who came into His creation to model how to live in order to derive the most out of this earthly experience – to learn how to come to a full understanding that I have been created in His image and likeness, which I know has been a gift and which assures me that I am immortal.

Each of us has a choice what we believe. I, for one, believe God has a plan and I desire to live by His plan.

The Spirituality of the Christian East – 20140330

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Theophan suggests some guiding principles that he believes are indispensable for the Christian life. These principles, he states, “define how to acquire the saving desire for communion with God” and to be able to “remain in communion with Him”. In other words, we must learn how to “begin to live the Christian life” and after we have learned how to do this, to “perfect” ourselves in this life.

These principles must, according to Theophan, bring a person into God’s presence. They must be practical enough to help a person to grow in the faith. In essence, a person is not truly born a Christian but must learn how to be a Christian. While the seed of Christ falls on the soil of a heart that is already beating, the experiences a child receives from his parents, family and friends contributes either to the growth of this seed or to its demise. That is why it is essential that we, who truly believe in the message of Christianity, share our faith with our children.

Theophan believed that there are three stages which, according to their characteristics, are present as we grow in the faith:

(1) Turning to God, which is conversion;

(2) Purification; and

(3) Sanctification.

In the first stage a man turns from darkness to light, from the reign of the world to the reign of God. In the second, he cleanses the dwelling-chamber of his heart from every impurity, in order to receive Christ the Lord, who is coming to him. In the third, the Lord comes, makes His home in the heart of a man and shares life with him. This third stage is the goal of life.

To show the way to salvation means that we must describe all these things and define the rules which govern their operation. Full guidance in this matter takes a man on the crossroads of sin, leads him through the fiery way of cleansing, and raises him up to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.