Acquiring the Mind of Christ — 20161120

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christ_iconTo acquire the mind of Christ, we must begin to think in the following way. We must say that we truly believe that in the Church, the Kingdom is present and revealed, but yet to be consummated. We must sense that right now we are living a new life in Christ and respond to his call: Come, all things have been prepared for you. Our task is to do what we can in this present moment to transform our thinking and then leave the rest to God.

Further, when we acquire the Mind of Christ, we begin to actively believe that prayer is true communion with God. Prayer is not just words that we unconsciously remember and repeat. We begin to truly believe that without real prayer there is no real life.

According to John Climacus (my readers should recognize this name), prayer is defined as “converse and union with God.” It is this personal conversation with God that affects union with Him, enabling us to fulfill our task of actualizing our salvation – to truly become engaged in Theosis. If prayer is right, the Fathers say, then everything else will be right. Our task in this short earthly life is to establish a true dialogue with God – to learn how to orient the heart, turning its antennae to the frequency of God’s life and grace. It is in this way we acquire eternal life and our salvation.

To acquire the Mind of Christ means to begin to truly and genuinely begin to think in this manner. It means to develop the ability to constantly be aware of God’s presence in our world. It means becoming deeply aware that without prayer, whether personal or corporate, there is no salvation. It is imperative that all Christians everywhere, no matter their place or rank, must learn to pray with their heart, deeply committing to a life a prayer if they expect to know God and do His will.

One of the ways that we can begin to develop this ability is by thoughtfully and intentionally pray the prayers of the Liturgy. We must constantly remind ourselves that we can’t allow ourselves to just say the words of the prayers in the Liturgy (I am thinking in particular the CREED), without making a serious attempt to understand and mean them. The CREED contains all the things that we say we believe. Therefore it must be said with deliberation and thoughtfulness. SO, don’t rush this most powerful prayer but, rather, think about what it declares as the basic beliefs of our faith!

PYLYPIVKA (ADVENT) PASTORAL OF THE UKRAINIAN CATHOLIC HIERARCHY OF THE U. S. A. TO OUR CLERGY, HIEROMONKS AND BROTHERS, RELIGIOUS SISTERS, SEMINARIANS AND BELOVED FAITHFUL

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Praise be Jesus Christ!

TIME TO REFLECT ON WHY WE ARE HERE IN THIS WORLD

With the commemoration of St. Philip on November 14th (Gregorian Calendar) or November 27th (Julian Calendar), we begin the customary fast or preparation for the Feast of the Nativity of the Birth of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  It coincides with the hectic season of pre-Christmas preparations, shopping for gifts for others, and invitations to participate in many social festive events.  It truly becomes a challenge for us to withdraw ourselves from our earthly appetites, as we attempt to facilitate more time for prayer and meditation.  When we become overwhelmed by such preparations, many of us step back and wonder whether all these things really add to our happiness and our feelings of contentment. We reflect on why we are here in this world.

Pope Francis, in the Apostolic Exhortation, “Joy of the Gospel”, says that you and I are “a mission on this earth”, and that is the reason why you and I are here in this world.  We are called to live as missionaries who feel genuine happiness in seeking the good of others, in desiring their happiness.  It is who we are.  The Holy Father calls us to draw nearer to others and to seek their welfare.  In turn, our hearts are opened wide to the Lord’s greatest and most beautiful gifts.  “Whenever our eyes are opened to acknowledge the other, we grow in the light of faith and knowledge of God”.

The recent beatification of Saint Teresa of Calcutta reminds us of a life dedicated “to give until it hurts”.  Mother Teresa gave of herself until it hurt, as she continued to give of her understanding, compassion, care and devotion.  She revealed to us that every person is worthy of our giving.  Pope Francis reminds us that “every human being is the object of God’s infinite tenderness, and He himself is present in their lives.  Every person is immensely holy and deserves our love”.  Why are you here in this world?  Pope Francis tells us so beautifully, that “if I can help at least one person to have a better life, that already justifies the offering of my life.  We achieve fulfillment when we break down walls and our heart is filled with faces and names!”

Herein lies our challenge during “Pylypivka” or Advent.  Be still, calm yourself and hear the voice of Jesus in your life in prayer and meditation.  Go about your daily life energized with the closeness of the Lord in your heart. Let Jesus be the source of your energy and that which you need for daily life.  Choose to draw nearer to others seeking their betterment in small ways.  Open your eyes to be become more aware of others and their challenges in life.  Listen. Observe.  Share of yourself in increased attentiveness to others.  Share from your abundance.  Pope Francis observes that “we do not live better when we flee, hide, refuse to share, stop giving and lock ourselves up in our own comforts.  Such a life is nothing less than slow suicide”.

You will come to know that “it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).  You will be able to “give until it hurts” because it will not hurt.  Jesus will not ask more of you than you can handle.  You will do it with His joy and peace overtaking you.  And, you will have come to understand why you are here in this world as you prepare to celebrate the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

God bless you in ways only He can as you journey through “Pylypivka” or Advent in anticipation of the birth of Jesus in the cave at Bethlehem.

+Stefan Soroka  (author)
Archbishop of Philadelphia for Ukrainians
Metropolitan of Ukrainian Catholics in the United States

+Paul Chomnycky, OSBM
Eparch of Stamford

+ Bohdan Danylo
Eparch of St. Josaphat in Parma

+John Bura
Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia

November, 2016

ПАСТИРСЬКЕ ПОСЛАННЯ ІЄРАРХІВ УКРАЇНСЬКОЇ КАТОЛИЦЬКОЇ ЦЕРКВИ США НА ПИЛИПІВКУ ВСЕЧЕСНІШОМУ ДУХОВЕНСТВУ, ПРЕПОДОБНОМУ МОНАШЕСТВУ, СЕМІНАРИСТАМ, НАШИМ ДОРОГИМ ВІРНИМ УКРАЇНСЬКОЇ КАТОЛИЦЬКОЇ ЦЕРКВИ В СПОЛУЧЕНИХ ШТАТАХ АМЕРИКИ

Слава Ісусу Христу!

ЧАС ЗАДУМАТИСЯ НАД ТИМ, ДЛЯ ЧОГО МИ ЖИВЕМО В ЦЬОМУ СВІТІ

Від дня святого Пилипа, який припадає на 14-те листопада (за Григоріянським календарем), чи 27–ме листопада (за Юліянським), розпочинається традиційний піст для приготування до святкування Різдва, чи народження нашого Господа і Спаса Ісуса Христа.  Він збігається з гарячковою порою передріздвяних приготувань, гонитвою за подарунками, запрошень до участі в різних святочних заходах.  Цей час дійсно стає викликом – як відмовитися від наших земних пристрастей і уділити більше часу на молитву та роздуми.  Багато з нас, переобтяжені цими приготуваннями, врешті відсторонюються від усього цього і запитують себе, чи справді усі ці речі приносять нам радість і втіху.  Ми  замислюємося над тим, для чого ми живемо в цьому світі.

Папа Франциск в Апостольському поученні «Радість Євангелія»,  говорить, що ви і  я  «маєте мету життя на землі»,  і що це є причиною, чому ви і я  живемо на землі.  Ви і я покликані жити як місіонери, які переживають щиру радість від прагнення добра для інших, від бажання їм радості.  Такими ми є.  Святіший Отець закликає нас зближуватися з іншими і діяти їм на благо. У відповідь наші серця широко відкриються для найбільших і найчарівніших Господніх дарів.  «Кожного  разу як наші очі  висловлюють вдячність іншим,  ми  зростаємо в вірі й пізнанні Бога».

Нещодавня беатифікація святої Терези з Калькути пригадує нам про життєву посвяту «давати, аж до болю».  Мати Тереза віддавалася аж до болю, але продовжувала уділяти своє зрозуміння, співчуття, турботу і відданість.  Вона  засвідчила нам, що кожна особа достойна нашої жертовності.  Папа Франциск нагадує нам, що «кожна людська істота є об’єктом Божої безмежної доброти, і Він сам присутній в їхньому житті.  Кожна  особа є безмірно свята і гідна нашої любові».  Заради чого ви живете в цьому світі?  Папа Франциск так гарно говорить про це: «якщо я зможу помогти принаймні одній людині знайти краще життя, це вже виправдає дароване мені життя.  Ми здійснюємо свій обов’язок, коли руйнуємо стіни й наші серця наповнюються обличчями й іменами!»

У цьому полягає наш виклик в часі Пилипівки. Зупиніться, заспокойтеся і прислухайтеся до голосу Ісуса в вашому часі молитви і роздумувань.  Живіть повсякденним життям натхненні близькістю з Господом у вашому серці.  Нехай Ісус стане джерелом вашої енергії і того, що ви потребуєте в щоденному житті.  Оберіть зближення з іншими, шукаючи ті дрібні речі, які скрасять їхнє життя. Відкрийте очі, щоб побачити  інших і їхні життєві виклики.  Слухайте.  Спостерігайте.  Уділяйте свою підвищену увагу іншим.  Діліться своїми достатками. Папа Франциск зауважує, що «ми не живемо краще, якщо утікаємо, ховаємося чи відмовляємося ділитися, перестаємо давати і замикаємося в нашому комфорті.  Таке життя є нічим іншим як повільним самогубством».

Ви дізнаєтеся, що «більше щастя – давати, ніж брати» (Ді. 20, 35).  Ви будете здатні «давати аж до болю», бо це не буде боліти.  Ісус не попросить від вас більшого, ніж ви зможете нести.  Ви будете робити це з радістю й миром, які оволодіють вами. І ви, приготовляючись до святкування Різдва нашого Господа й Спаса Ісуса Христа, зрозумієте, заради чого ви живете в цьому світі!

Нехай Бог благословить вас лише Йому відомими шляхами у вашій подорожі Пилипівкою в очікуванні святкування народження Ісуса в стаєнці в Вифлеємі.

+Високопреосвященний Стефан Сорока (автор)
Митрополит Української Католицької Церкви у США
Архиєпископ Філадельфійський для Укpаїнців

+Преосвященний Павло Хомницький, ЧСВВ
Єпископ Стемфордської єпархії

+Преосвященний Богдан Данило
Єпископ Пармської єпархії святого Йосафата

+Преосвященний Іван Бура
Єпископ-Помічник Філадельфійський

Reflections on the Scripture Readings for this Weekend — 20161113

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The Good Samaritan

The Good Samaritan

As we bring to an end the 26th week after Pentecost, our readings include a section from St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians wherein he relates his impression that to be truly a Christian in this world we must put on Christian armor. He suggests that we should put on the “armor of God” if we “are to resist” the evil of the day.

For Paul, the enemies that Christians must face are not human and therefore they must gird themselves with a special armor. He then describes the armor that we should put on. For Paul truth is to be the belt around our waist; justice our breastplate; zeal our footgear; faith our shield; and the word of God our helmet and sword. Christians must face the “rulers of this world” which tend to be self-centeredness and selfishness. The Way of Jesus provides Christians with new and different weapons.

Our second reading, taken from Luke’s Gospel, presents the Parable of the Good Samaritan, probably one of the best known of the Jesus parables. It presents the conduct of a real disciple. It is the conduct of the wise and the prudent, not just of those learned in the law. The parable presents how a person must live and act if he desires to have “eternal life.”

The parable compares the failure of the ministers (i.e., priest and Levite) of God with the unselfishness of the hated Samaritan so that his hearers would then be able to measure the unlimited nature of the duty to love.

In the course of the parable, he who possesses the secret of eternal life turns out to be this stranger without the lawyer’s learning and concern for security and without the dignity and status of the priestly and Levitical condition.

The Samaritan’s love was spontaneous and did not have to inquire into the Law. It was kindly, disinterested, personal and very effective. Why? Because it was unconditional. The Samaritan placed no conditions on his love of neighbor. The others before him did. Jesus’ listeners were to get the point since all knew of the hatred that people directed toward the Samaritans.

What is the message of our two readings. Our values and attitudes of mind can bring us the “fullness of life” if they are unconditional. If we make truth, faith, justice and the word of God the standards by which we live, we will be able to summon the strength and courage to extend unconditional love, forgiveness and acceptance to all others, regardless of how they treat us or respond to us.

Jesus truly showed us how to live!

The Spirituality of the Christian East — 20161113

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st_john_of_theladderThe 27th Step on John’s Ladder, is STILLNESS. St. John writes that stillness of the body is the accurate knowledge and management of one’s feelings and perceptions. Stillness of soul is the accurate knowledge of one’s thoughts and is an unassailable mind.

Stillness is a state of being all Christians are called to acquire in the presence of God. Those who philosophize about God are full of thoughts and an abundance of distractions. Those who stand in God’s presence are silenced. The former consider the theory of God, but the latter know Him personally as Lord, Master, Father and Friend. It should therefore not take us by surprise that stillness is the calling of every Christian, for we are all called to know and love God, and to stand before Him with awe, reverence and humility.

When someone begins to work toward acquiring inward stillness, he must spend time in solitude, avoiding noisiness and distraction whenever possible. In solitude he seeks union with God through prayer: Stillness is worshipping God unceasingly and waiting on Him.

The fruit of many years of true prayer is an inward stillness that is no longer troubled by noisiness and external distractions. St. John says that the start of stillness is the rejection of all noisiness as something that will trouble the depths of the soul. The final point is when one has no longer a fear of noisy disturbance, when one is immune to it.

I truly believe that the constant and continuous distraction that our modern society presents to us through radio, television and social media, makes it very difficult to achieve stillness. Do you ever drive your car without the radio on? Do you always have a radio or television playing in your home when you are there?

It truly seems that we can only encounter God in stillness!

CALLED TO HOLINESS – 20161113

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The call to holiness is a call to THEOSIS, that voluntary process of personal change and transformation that God calls us to as followers of Jesus Christ. I know that many, when they hear the words “personal change”, seem to “freeze”. I have observed over the years that people, even if they are suffering psychic pain, don’t like to change. In fact that it seems that many people “fear” personal change. And yet “personal change” is the royal road to salvation – to the fullness of life. Our Eastern Spiritual Heritage tells us that although Christ alone is God by nature, all people are called to become God by “participation.” In such participation we become likenesses of Christ and perfect images of God the Father.

Personal change and transformation means, quite frequently, giving up old and misguided attitudes about life and others and ideas of who God is and who we humans are. It frequently means that we must give up “judging other people” and believing that what we hold to be true is the truth and the whole truth. Remember, humans typically judge others only to make themselves feel better. Don’t feel good about yourself at the expense of others.

Learning Our Faith From the Greek Fathers of the Church — 20161113

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bulletinoctober23rdHumankind, being in God’s image and likeness, is at the heart of what it is to be human – humans are according to his image; humans are like God in some way. The Greek Fathers read Genesis in Greek, and the Greek, to an educated ear, makes two further suggestions. First, this phrase according to the image, is quite a strong preposition; it suggests the question, According to what image? The English in the image just suggests that man was created as the image of God; the Greek raises the possibility of something more complex: man created according to the image of God. Who is? The New Testaments suggests Christ, the image of God, the one who images forth God in his incarnate state. So maybe there is here, for the Christian Greek ear, the idea that humankind was created according to Christ, who is the image of the Father. This may remind one of the depiction of creation in the north portal of Chartres Cathedral, where the cruciform halo makes it evident that it is Christ who is the Creator (as the Nicene Creed affirms: ‘through whom (that is the Son) all things were made”) and in making man he makes one who is like him, who is in accordance with him. So our very creation entails a relationship, not just to God as Creator, but to Christ, the Son of God Incarnate.

There is yet another point to note: verse 26 in Genesis adds this: and according to likeness. The word translated ‘likeness’, homoiosis, truly suggests something more precise in Greek: the ending –osis, implies a process, not a state (the Greek for likeness as a state would be homoioma). The word homoiosis would moreover have very definite resonances for anyone who had read Plato, who envisages the goal of the human life as homoiosis – likening, assimilation – to the divine. In the Theaetetus, Socrates remarks, in a phrase very popular among some of the Fathers: ‘flight from the world is assimilation to God so far as is possible’. So, to be created according to the image of God and according to his likeness suggests that we have been created with some kind of affinity for God which makes possible a process of assimilation to God, which is, presumably, the point of human existence.

What this all suggests is that in order to understand our faith, we must rely on Tradition (the Fathers of the Church) to truly come to a correct understanding of our faith. This all supports the Eastern Church’s spiritual idea of Theosis!

Gaining a Deeper Understanding of Our Faith — 20161113

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St. Cyril of Alexandria

St. Cyril of Alexandria

The whole spiritual experience reflected in Cyril’s Christology implies two central intuitions: (1) God, in the search for incomplete humanity, does not stop halfway, but goes where humanity it – in death itself; and (2) It is not an ideal, perfect humanity that the Son of God assumes, but with an incomplete humanity which, albeit incomplete, has the potential give to it by God to come into greater communion with God. God assumes humanity which is made in His image but has not actualized, necessarily, His likeness. It is corrupt and mortal.

During the very bitter christological debates and controversies, the Christology of Cyril was challenged from two sides: (1) First, the school of Theodore of Mopsuestia, eventually condemned in the person of Nestorius, not only reflected a legitimate concern for the full and free humanity of Christ but also attempted to rationalize the mystery (How could the eternal Son “be born”? How could the passionless God “suffer and die”? It accepted as absolute the Greek Platonic philosophical category of divine changelessness, which excluded such realistic affirmations as a divine birth in time or the death of the Son of God on Golgotha. (2) Second, the Cyrillian view of Jesus Christ was also challenged by those who interpreted it in an “Apollinarian” sense. Again on the basis of Platonism, Apollinaris, bishop of Laodicea, saw Jesus as God with a human body but without a human soul: why, indeed was there a need in him for another spiritual center beside the divine Logos? But then was he truly a man, since he was lacking a distinctively human spiritual identity? Even more sophisticated than Apollinarianism, the teaching of Julian of Halicarnassus claimed that, since death came “through sin”, the sinless humanity of Jesus could not be affected by corruptibility and of course mortality. The consequence was that the humanity of Jesus was perfect, incorruptible humanity, in the sense of not being fully like our incomplete nature, and that therefore his death was not like our death.

You can tell that the Church as struggled through its history to truly understand WHO JESUS IS. How do we conceive of the mystery of Him being both FULLY God and FULLY man. This, albeit mystery, has troubled humans since the time of Christ. All kinds of arguments have immerged.

What is your belief about Jesus, the Christ?

Understanding Our Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church – 20161113

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It is a custom and tradition in our Church for parishes to be named for a particular saint or event in the life of Christ. The feast of that saint or event then becomes the Patronal Feast of a Parish and is typically celebrated.

On November 8th we celebrate the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel, the chief of the heavenly host, and the Other Heavenly Bodiless Powers. The Church has identifies the following as part of the Heavenly Host:

Powers of HeavenArchangels

Michael
Gabriel
Raphael
Uriel
Selaphiel
Jehudiel
Barachiel
Jeremiel

This feast was established at the beginning of the fourth century at the Council of Laodicea, which met several years before the First Ecumenical Council. The 35th Canon of the Council condemned and denounced as heretical the worship of angels as gods and rulers of the world, but affirmed their proper veneration. The feastday was established in November, the ninth month after March (with which the year began in ancient times) since there are Nine Ranks of Angels. The eighth day of the month was chosen for the Synaxis of all the Bodiless Powers of Heaven since the Day of the Dread Last

Judgment is called the Eighth Day by the holy Fathers. The end of this age (characterized by the seven days of Creation) will come to an end on the Eighth Day and then “the Son of Man shall come in His Glory and all the holy Angels with Him” (Mt. 25:31).

The Angelic Ranks according to tradition are divided into three Hierarchies. The Highest Hierarchy includes: the Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones. The Middle Hierarchy includes: Dominions, Powers, and Authorities. The Lowest Hierarchy includes: Principalities, Archangels and Angels. All the Ranks are called angels, although each has its own name and position by virtue of their service. The Lord reveals His will to the highest ranks of the angels, and they in turn inform the others. Over all the Nine Ranks, the Lord appointed the Holy Archangel Michael (his name in Hebrew means “who is like unto God”), the faithful servitor of God, as Chief Commander. He cast down from Heaven the arrogantly proud Lucifer and the other fallen spirits when they rebelled against God. St. Dionysius the Areopagite (who lived in the 6th century) was the first to divide the world of the angels into nine ranks.

Gaining a Deeper Understanding of the New Testament — 20161113

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20161030So Christ, the Word of God, truly brings His saving work to fulfillment by submitting Himself, with all of creation, to God the Father. This act of thanking God the Father for life itself is the final act of Christ and the act that we are called to repeatedly perform in worship of our God – it is the true Eucharistic act of Christ and the act that we are called to remember and do. According to St. Isaac and Eastern mystical tradition, once this mission of the Word is completed, human words of profound proclamation, praise and supplication will be forever transformed into the true worship of God.

This rooting of Word and Sacrament in the divine “silence” from which God articulates the economy of salvation, will perhaps seem strange and unwarranted to non-Eastern Christians, as will the insistence upon their fundamental unity. For centuries Catholics and Protestants have been enmeshed in controversy over the relative importance of the two, indicating by the very nature of their arguments that both confessions consider Word and Sacrament to be separate, if complementary, realities that together constitute the essence of the Church. Calvin well expressed the Western conception when he defined the Church as God’s instrument of salvation through the “preaching of the Gospel” and the “institution of the sacraments.” Such a definition presupposes a distinction, even a dichotomy, between Word and Sacrament, preaching and liturgy, proclamation and celebration, that is quite foreign to Eastern theology. In the thought of the Eastern Fathers, grounded as it is in the wholistic nature of the apostolic vision, Word and Sacrament are inseparable. Together they form a unique and unified medium of communion between God and man, a reciprocal participation between divine and human life.

Hopefully my readers will understand this. There can be no separation between the Gospels and our true eucharistic worship. They are one. Our worship makes real and present the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It supports and makes real our active remembering of the actions of the Gospel.

From the perspective of Eastern Christianity, the relationship between Word and Sacrament, proclamation and celebration, must be explained in such a way as to stress the absolute, fundamental unity between the two. The Word of God is made real by and through our worship of God which brings us into communion with Him.

The Divine Liturgy and Our Worship of God — 20161113

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Mystical Supper

Mystical Supper

After the congregation professes in God as Three-In-One and the priest in his priestly prayer likewise confirms this belief, the priest introduces the hymn which all present sing together with the angels in heaven. The prayer is the Holy, Holy, Holy. The priest introduces this prayer in this manner:

We thank You for this liturgy which You have willed to accept from our hands, even though there stand before You thousands of archangels, tens of thousands of angels, Cherubim and Seraphim, six-winged, many-eyed, soaring aloft on their wings, singing, shouting, crying out and saying the triumphal hymn:

That which immediately follows upon this priest introduction is the Hymn of Victory or Greek: ἐπινίκιος ὕμνος. It is taken originally from the Chalcedonian Christian Liturgy. This hymn is actually a combination of two events, Isaiah’s Heavenly Vision and the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. In Isaiah 6:1b-4 we read about this vision:

I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the Temple was filled with his glory. Hovering about him were mighty, six-winged seraphs. With two of their wings they covered their faces; with two others they covered their feet and with two they flew. In a great antiphonal chorus they sang, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is filled with his glory.”

This proclamation is also found in Revelation 4:8: “Day and night, without pause they sing: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, He who was, and who is and who is to come.”

Notice that John’s image was not of six-winged Seraphim, but of four living creatures. This is an interesting twist to the Isaiah imagery of the Heavenly Vision. John states previously what those four creatures were: In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Irenaeus and Augustine both write that those four living creatures represented the Evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. We see these icons of four living creatures on the Royal Doors in traditional Byzantine churches.

We proclaim this hymn together with the Heavenly Host. We believe that as we celebrate on earth, so too our celebration is connected with the same celebration in heaven. There is no separation between heaven and earth as we worship God.