GAINING A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF OUR FAITH — 20160703

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allsaintsThe advent of Jesus into the Jewish world, which awaited a Messiah that would rescue them from Roman domination, caused some to rethink not only what the anticipated Messiah would do but also what their God was like. According to the Old Testament (OT), Yahweh constantly fought their battles and even used violence to free them and protect them from domination. Jewish history is filled with stories about Him taking their side against other people. Just think about the plagues that He brought down on the Egyptians. The Messiah they anticipated had to be a warrior-like person who could and would champion their desire for freedom and independence.

Many at first thought that Jesus had to be the Messiah because of the miracles He performed and the message He preached. They witnessed His power and thought that He would use it to free them from the Romans. In fact it seems that Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus in order to force His hand and strike out at the Romans.

Many at first thought that Jesus was a prophet like John the Baptizer since talked about the Kingdom of God being at hand like John did. It was a message easily misunderstood by those wanting to believe that God would free their nation from Roman rule. They failed to recognize, so great was their desire for a Messiah to rescue them, that neither Jesus nor John never said anything about freeing Israel from Roman rule.

It soon became very evident that Jesus didn’t embrace the same approach to religion as the Jewish clergy and He even seemed to suggest a different idea about divine power, namely that it was not coercion but love. As one might guess, this appealed more to poor people than it did to those in power. Jesus preached about making God’s Kingdom real, even under the yoke of Roman oppression. He preached how to live in a world where people had to face great challenges without giving up their belief in God’s presence.

You will recall that He told His disciples to only go and preach to other Jews, even though He Himself interacted with and cured Samaritans and Romans. It seems like it was His first desire to reform Judaism.

Jesus is the true Messiah or Savior of humankind because He showed humans how to live in order to become the beings God intended when He created them.

Learning Our Faith From the Greek Fathers of the Church — 20160703

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St. Cyril of Alexandria

St. Cyril of Alexandria

I would, for the sake of supporting a truly, greater understanding of our faith and religion, share with my readers the actual text of Chalcedon. While it is long, I do believe it is worthwhile to read it as the Fathers of Chalcedon wrote it. It reads:

Following the Holy fathers, we all with one voice confess our Lord Jesus Christ one and the same Son, the same perfect in Godhead, the same perfect in humanity, truly God and truly man, the same consisting of a reasonable soul and a body, of one substance with the Father as touching the Godhead, the same of one substance with us as touching humanity, like us in all things apart from sin; begotten of the Father before the ages as touching the Godhead, the same in the last days, for us and for our salvation, born from the Virgin Mary, the Theotokos, as touching humanity, one and the same Christ, Son, Lord Only-begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; the distinction of natures being in no way abolished because of the union, but rather the characteristic property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one person, or hypostasis, not as if Christ were parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son and Only-Begotten God, word, Lord, Jesus Christ; even as the prophets from the beginning spoke concerning him, and our Lord Jesus Christ instructed us, and the Creed of the Fathers (i.e., of Nicaea) was handed down to us.

This is our faith. In this famous text, the clearly Cyrillian passages are underlined, and the sentences inspired either by the Antiochenes or Pope Leo are in italics. On the Cyrillian side, particularly noteworthy is the repetition of the words “the same” (ho autos) eight times (excluding the Nestorian “duality” between the Son of God and the son of Mary) and the use of the title Theotokos. On the Antiochene-Latin side is the insistence on the integrity of each nature, each keeping its respective properties within the union. The formula is clearly a committee document, lacking the straightforward, kerygmatic and soteriological fire of earlier Cyrillian statements. But it reflects a “catholic” compromise – we would say today “ecumenical” – concern for possible objections from either side of the debate.

I hope that in sharing this actual text with my readers, that they will be able to come to a deeper understanding of what has gone into the formulation of our beliefs and ideas about Jesus Christ.

I would hasten to also assert that it is our belief that this debate and the formulation of our belief about Jesus was under the influence of the Holy Spirit. The result is beyond mere human invention!

Understanding Our Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church — 20160703

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Since our Church embraces the idea of Sacred Tradition, I have been sharing various thoughts and ideas about our Sacred Tradition. There are modern Christian Churches that reject the idea of Sacred Tradition. Tradition gives us insight into the practical application of Christian Truth, both in the recent past and within our own time. For instance, from the time of the Reformation to the present, the Spirit has made it clear that salvation is not confined to any one particular denomination, that every Christian has a common heritage with the Christian peoples of the first 10 centuries (not only with post-Reformation believers), and that the Holy Spirit’s ministry can neither be regulated by an era of history (i.e., New Testament times) nor buy any specific Christian’s doctrinal statement. Some may interject that all of these things were always clear in the Scripture, but this is certainly not the case. “Bible-believing” Christians have not always agreed on these insights, and even a number today still do not agree with all of these perspectives.

Words and other symbols can change (i.e., doctrinal development), but Divine Meanings will never change.

Let us take, for example, the Greek word homoousios (same nature). Few Christians in main stream Churches today would have a theological problem with using that word when explaining that Christ is homoousios both with God and humanity. However, some Christians in the Fourth Century did have trouble with it. Why? Because that very same word had been popularized just a century earlier by another heretic, Paul of Samosata. Certain Christians did not feel comfortable using a word which had formerly been associated with the heretical doctrine in order to now defend orthodox dogma. Nevertheless, the Church decided to use the word anyway, believing that its application and meaning in an orthodox Christian context made its use justifiable.

I suspect, however, that if you were to ask many modern mega-church goers about this word, they would probably not accept its use. Why? Because it sounds too academic and it is not found in the New Testament.

A word with a tarnished history was brushed off and used by Tradition to brilliantly testify to the miracle of the Incarnation. It’s adoption in a stanza of the Nicene Creed is something which every Christian today acknowledges, even if they don’t know that it is the original word that expresses the English idea of “of one substance with the Father.” Of course many don’t known even what the English means.

ACQUIRING THE MIND OF CHRIST — 20160703

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christ_iconAs I suggested several weeks ago, I believe that one way that we can begin to acquire the mind if Christ is by understanding how He prayed. The Our Father is the prayer that Tradition tells us Jesus gave us when He taught His followers to pray in this way.

So, Jesus taught us that the God we pray to is Our ABBA, whose name we truly reverence and cherish. He is not some abstract, far-away deity but, rather, someone Who has chosen to share His Life with us, through the instruments of our parents.

After we acknowledge God as Our ABBA, we express something very important. We express our desire for HIS KINGDOM TO BECOME A REALITY in our lives and world. I suspect that we don’t always realize that for this to happen we must make every effort to bring it into existence. When you think about it, this has a direct relation to the exhortation that both John the Baptizer and Jesus articulated during their earthly ministries: Repent – change your hearts and minds – for the Kingdom of God is at hand. The only way that God’s Kingdom becomes a reality in the here-and-now is by the actions of people who are followers of Jesus and make every attempt to LIVE LIKE JESUS.

When you think about the life of Jesus, you can see where He made every attempt to make God’s Kingdom real. He treated everyone with respect! He unconditionally loved others! He unconditionally forgive others, even those who did Him bodily harm! He treated all others as He Himself wanted to be treated! He lived His life in complete harmony with His beliefs!

If we express our desire for God’s Kingdom to come, we must also be willing to work to make it a reality! We must be determined to not be seduced by the values, attitudes and things of this world but, rather, to make the real establishment of God’s Kingdom the foremost priority in our lives.

Some might want to say that this is impossible, that one person cannot change the world. Jesus changed the world in which He lived. We can influence the immediate world in which we live by being determined to live in accord with our beliefs and our Christian values. Don’t look to the entire world. Look to the world in which you live, work and play. That is the world that you can possibly influence. Just try and then leave it up to God to determine the influence!

Gaining a Deeper Understanding of the New Testament — 20160703

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image269Because of its present use and importance, something should be said of the origin of the phrase, God, the author of Scripture. Its roots seem to go back to Clement of Alexandria, who speaks of God as the immediate and primary cause (aitios) of such things as the Old and New Testaments. Clement’s thought, however, is concerned with the two Testaments as two economies of salvation rather than as two collections of sacred books. Ambrose expressly translates aitios used by Clement with the Latin auctor (author) and applies it to God. But the reference is to God as the author or cause of all created things rather than to him specifically as the author or cause of Scripture – this even though Ambrose makes his remarks in connection with an inquiry into the meaning of Matthew 7:7. Jerome speaks of the “one author” of the many epistles of Paul. From the context it would appear that “author” is taken here precisely in the sense of literary author, but it is not clear whether the author referred to is God or Paul himself. The Statuta Ecclesiae antique, composed in the latter part of the 5th century, refers to God as the author of the New and the Old Testaments. Since the historical context of that designation is the Manichaean doctrine of the economies of the NT and of the OT as coming from two different “Gods,” the reference in the Statuta points to God as the author of the books of the NT and of the OT, but as the cause of the economies of the two Testaments.

The first clear reference to God as the literary author of Scripture is to be found in Gregory the Great where God is called the author of Sacred Scripture, while the human factor in the production of the sacred books is called the writer. The same distinction is made by Isidore of Sevelle. It then became an accepted part of Christian theological terminology when used by Rabanus Maurus in his early and influential textbook for the training of clergy – valuable more for its collection of texts about God as author than for its interpretation of them. In later theological writing, the phraseology, God the author of Scripture, becomes universal. Thus Thomas Aquinas refers to God as the author or the principal author of Scripture. At the end of the Middle Ages, Henry of Ghent, in a remarkable passage, emphasizes that only God can be called the author of the books of Scripture in the fullest sense. (More to come on this important topic)

CALLED TO HOLINESS — 20160703

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In this continuing article I have tried to suggest that the call to holiness is truly a call to personal transformation. If you have been following this article, I am sure that you have probably sensed that I have been wrestling with ways to encourage my readers how to accomplish this, since it seems that personal change is difficult. As I have reread some of my writings, it has dawned on me that what I have been trying to suggest is that we raise certain revealed truths to our consciousness. It is my belief that we truly become conscious about what God has revealed to us about humanity, that we will be much more eager to change ourselves.

One of the most profound revelations made to us by God, I believe, is that we have been created in His image, that is in His image as revealed to us in the Person of Jesus. St. Paul, in the first chapter of the Letter to the Colossians, writes this about Jesus: He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in Him all things were created … He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

So perhaps one of the first things we can do in order to respond to God’s call to holiness is to recognize, believe and really understand that we are created in the image of Jesus.

This means that we are called to grow in our likeness of Him, making His way of living, our way of living; making His way of thinking, our way of thinking; and making His way of worshiping God, our way of worshiping God. Like Jesus, we must first want to do all that Our ABBA wants us to do, namely make His Kingdom real right now. Of course this is why, I think, many want to think of Jesus as more God than man. If He is more God than man, then we can’t possibly imitate Him and grow in His likeness. Our faith tells us that He is fully God and FULLY MAN. Therefore we have the power to imitate Him.

Jesus CHOSE to be the man that He was while here on earth. He wasn’t forced to be who He was. Neither are we! We can choose to be like Him. We have been called to be like Him!

Reflections on the Scriptural Readings for this Weekend — 20160626

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4Ev-MariaLaachOur first reading this weekend is again taken from Paul’s Letter to the Romans. It has a truly wonderful description of fraternal charity. Paul tells us how to be like Christ. He writes:

Your love must be sincere…. Detest what is evil, cling to what is good. Love one another with the affection of brothers. Anticipate each other in showing respect…. Rejoice in hope, be patient under trial, persevere in prayer…. Bless your persecutors; bless and do not curse them.

There is much more in the verses of chapter 12. If you truly want to become more like Christ, I would encourage you to pick up your Bible and read this chapter again.

Our Gospel miracle story is again about Christ healing a paralytic. This particular healing story appears in all three Synoptic Gospels

Matthew 9:2-8
Mark 2:3-12
Luke 5:17-26

which means that the early Church thought it was significant to report.

Interestingly enough, this healing took place in Jesus’ home town, Capernaum, and is introduced in Matthew’s narrative by saying that Jesus returned from the Gadarene area by getting into a boat and crossing a body of water. Considering that water is one of the primary symbols of life, this healing story is presented as Christ truly giving life to the man. Further, Christ prefaces the healing by saying: Have courage, son, your sins are forgiven. This, of course, caused some scribes who were there to accuse Jesus, in their hearts, of blaspheming.

As I thought about these readings, this is what came to mind. First, Paul’s description of fraternal charity is exactly how Jesus lived. Sometimes in life we seem to be unable to live up to this standard – we are paralyzed in our ability to live like Jesus. Jesus can heal this type of paralysis – this type of sin – if only we come to Him and seek His healing. The scribes in the story demonstrated, by their judgment of Jesus, that they did not have fraternal charity – they were judgmental and spiritually paralyzed, even though they were religiously active. In truth they did not have the fullness of life.

Jesus demonstrates through this healing that He can cure spiritual and physical paralysis by showing (modeling) people how to live. He assures us that His way is the right way by showing His critics that He can not only forgive sin but also heal paralysis.

Think about these two readings and ask yourself what message they have for you. God speaks to us through such readings if only we open our hearts and minds to His message.

Don’t miss the chance to hear God’s message!

CALLED TO HOLINESS — 20160626

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Universal Call to Holiness

Universal Call to Holiness

As I have suggested many times in previous issues of this article, the call to holiness is a call to an authentic spirituality which, in turn, engages us in a process of personal transformation or change. I realize that there is a tendency in many to EITHER believe that they do not have to change OR to fear what personal change they might have to make if they really respond to God’s call to holiness. As we look around our world, we quickly realize that humans don’t like change and seem to do whatever they can to resist any real and significant change.

So, one of the first things we do if we truly want to respond to God’s call to holiness is admit that all people have things in their lives that need to change. Why? Because none of us can ever say that we can unconditionally love and forgive all others and completely refrain from judging others. Unfortunately it seems to be built into the human psyche to judge others so that we can feel better about ourselves.

I believe that, like St. Gregory Palamas, a beginning point in this process is to affirm and believe that even in this present life we are called to direct and unmediated communion with God Himself. Once we truly believe and accept this fact, we will do everything in our power to become engaged in a process of real, personal change. We can strengthen this belief by engaging in authentic prayer. Prayer is at one and the same time the chief means by which this communion with God is attained, and, in its truest form, communion with God Himself. Prayer as communion, prayer as theology, is nothing less than the face to Face encounter with Christ. Prayer helps us build a real relationship with God when we relate to Him as the God-Man, Jesus Christ. When we think of God in terms of Jesus, the Christ, we find that we can relate to God since He also has a human nature just as we do, although now glorified. We know, in reading about His life, that He faced the same life challenges that we have to face and that He clearly demonstrated how to effectively deal with life challenges. Jesus is our model of how to live.

Learning Our Faith From the Greek Fathers of the Church — 20160626

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St. Cyril of Alexandria

St. Cyril of Alexandria

In the fifth century, Cyril triumphed over Nestorius using the same process as described in the last issue of this article, that is by using Greek vocabulary as a tool, changing its meaning and making it into a manageable instrument of Christian witness. This can be seen in the famous decree of the Council of Chalcedon (451). Cyril’s Christology has been both kerygmatic and polemical. Eutyches – a zealous, ultra Cyrillian ascetic – interpreted the unity of divinity and humanity of Christ to mean that humanity was so totally “deified” that it ceased to be “our” humanity. Christ was certainly “consubstantial” with the Father, but not “with us.” His humanity was absorbed by God. Eutyches was formally faithful to the Christology of Cyril, but in fact he was depriving it of its meaning for human salvation: God, according to Eutyches, was not sharing human destiny – human birth, suffering and death itself – but, while remaining absolute, changeless and transcendent, was absorbing that human identity which he had originally created. Was he then still the God of love?

The Council of Chalcedon came as a reaction against Eutychianism. But its definition of Christ was a rather elaborate formula which resulted from long debates and was intended to satisfy the different existing terminological traditions: the Alexandrian, the Antiochene and the Latin. The latter expressed itself in the powerful intervention of Pope Leo the Great in his letter to Flavian of Constantinople. In this famous text, the pope, using a terminology inherited from Tertullian and Augustine, carefully established the integrity of the two natures of Christ, and insisted that this integrity requires that each nature preserve fully its characteristics. This resulted in the Council of Chalcedon issuing this text:

Following the holy Fathers, we all with one voice confess our Lord Jesus Christ one and the same Son, the same perfect in Godhead, the same perfect in humanity, truly

God, truly man, the same consisting of a reasonable soul and a body, of one substance with the Father as touching the Godhead, the same of one substance with us as touching humanity, like us in all things apart from sin.

While I will continue to share more of this statement from the Council, I would truly encourage all to study this beginning part since it is THE TRUE STATEMENT of our belief about Who Jesus is. Although it may sound technical, it is the exact statement of the Council which is the foundation of our faith. It means that Jesus is TRULY GOD and TRULY MAN.

Understanding Our Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church — 20160626

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Picture1I would continue to share thoughts about Sacred Tradition since our Church adheres to Sacred Tradition for two reasons: from its foundation it has based its beliefs on the canons of the Seven Ecumenical Councils and because it is a part of the Catholic Communion of Churches. It is the presence of the Holy Spirit within the Church which allows her to formulate doctrine. The Christian with an Eastern disposition would never propose a view of continuous revelation where Scriptural truths grow in quantity. Sacred Tradition is not a supplement to Revelation. Tradition simply encourages a process whereby the Church, led by the Holy Spirit, can better defend and understand the basic Christian doctrines which she already possesses. New revelations are not added. Christian doctrine is never altered. But rather, Divine Tradition is a light turned on in the room of our Chris-tian experience.

Although the Church of New Testament times was chronologically closer to the “spring of truth”, its placement in history does not mean it “knew and understood the mystery of the Revelation … better and fuller than all subsequent ages”. For example, the formulation of the dogma of the Trinity, a term unknown to St. Paul and the Primitive Church, was not the innovative creation of later Church Fathers. It was simply another attempt at explaining the mystery which the Church from Paul’s time to the present now experiences. One theologian has said:

At every moment of history the Church gives to its members the faculty of knowing the Truth in a fullness that the world cannot contain. It is this mode of knowing the living Truth in the Tradition that the Church defends in its creation of new dogmatic definitions.

The Christian cannot afford to be naïve here. Doctrinal development is a necessity. Christianity’s theological path was not set on automatic pilot from the time of the New Testament and thus incapable of getting off course. Prayer and serious thought were required by the Christian Church to defend her experience before an onslaught of heretical doctrines, and it was these attacks which promoted the Spirit to speak to the Church inspiring the key creedal statements that Christianity has today. Tradition in the doctrinal development of the Church can be explained as “the history of the right choices made by human beings confronted by the prophetic word of God. God continually leads us.