Gaining a Deeper Understanding of the New Testament — 20160410

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the_four_evangelistsIt seems that Christians have always attempted, even shortly after the texts of the New Testament were written down, to discover the real meaning of what was written. The application to the New Testament (NT) of the principles of literary criticism (a study of the content of the NT) and of historical criticism (a study of the historicity of the documents) has a history that ranges from the second century to the present.

There are a number of PIONEERS in the early Church who studied the NT with regard its content and historicity. The first of these is Marcion (150 CE), who the Church declared a heretic, repudiated the OT (Old Testament) and Judaism and produced a truncated NT canon to conform to his teaching. By so doing, he moved the Church to counter his teaching by producing an orthodox NT canon.

Tatian (175 CE), a Syrian convert to Christianity, was another 2nd century pioneer who made an attempt at criticism of the NT. His work was the first harmonization of the four Gospels, presented as a single,        continuous narrative.

The greatest ante-Nicene scholar in the Church was Origen (185-254 CE), the head of the famous school of Alexandria. He made two notable contributions to biblical studies. The first was his Hexapla, the earliest Christian attempt at textual criticism of the OT and the second was his realization of the importance of hermeneutics (the branch of knowledge that deals with interpretation, especially of the Bible or literary texts). Although his scriptural interpretations have been judged to be excessive, his      allegorical interpretation of the Scriptures was a serious endeavor to make them relevant and meaningful to his contemporaries. The Alexandrian school had a great influence on Eastern Christianity.

Eusebius, (260-340 CE) the first Church historian, gave much valuable early information about the NT in his Ecclesiastical History. He also divided the Gospels into small numbered sections and devised a set of tables to show parallels between the various Gospels.

Augustine (354-430 CE), the great theologian of the Western Church, laid down the principles that affected the treatment of Synoptic differences for over a millennium. He was aware that the order of the Gospel narratives reflects general recollection rather than strict chronological history and that the words of Jesus are often reported with an accuracy that preserves only their sense.

Learning Our Faith From the Greek Fathers of the Church — 20160410

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john-chrysostomI have been presenting in this article some of St. John Chrysostom’s thoughts on the “Light of Tabor”. We know that some scholars speculate that this event might have taken place after the Resurrection. If, however, it happened prior to the Resurrection, we can understand why the Church has had such a struggle in knowing how to exactly state Who Jesus is.  We know that the Council finally, after many different heresies about Who Jesus is, came up with the statement that Jesus is truly God and truly man and that the fact that He is also God did not dictate how He was to live as a man.

I would quickly add that when it happened really doesn’t matter to me.  I think the more important question is:  Why did Christ transfigure Himself on Tabor to His apostles? It was obviously meant to reveal something to the apostles. There is a lesson to be learned from this event. I think that is why St. John struggled with the whole idea of the Light of Tabor.

St. John wrote that the glory that was revealed on Tabor, the glory of Christ’s divinity, is the very same glory that the incorruptible bodies of the righteous will receive in the Celestial Kingdom. Further, this glory is perceived as light. But the light, says Chrysostom, which will be revealed more fully at the Last Day, is not a natural or physical light, for it is not “accessible to mortal eyes.” The reason why, then, the three disciples were unable to bear even the glory   revealed at the Transfiguration was because the supernatural and immaterial nature of this light is fully perceptible only to incorruptible and immortal eyes.

It is important to note here that according to St. John the three apostles   experienced this vision with their physical, bodily eyes, even if only in an imperfect manner. But even though the three disciples actually saw Christ transfigured by His divine glory, they were nevertheless unable to   contain the vision because, as St. John explains, they were still subject to corruption and death. Hence their reported reaction.

All this highlights another very important aspect in Chrysostom’s appreciation of the significance of the Transfiguration, namely the expected glorification of the human body. That this happened to Jesus is a revelation that it will help to all humans who, because of their belief in Jesus, are able to experience it in this way. Thus, the whole human person, body as well as soul, is called to participate in the glory of which the Transfiguration is but a humble foreshowing.

ACQUIRING THE MIND OF CHRIST — 20160410

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paschaIn considering the call to holiness given to us by God, which is a call to “change our hearts and minds” we must, as I previous shared, believe that only Jesus truly has the power to revolutionize our minds “in God’s way, in the goodness and holiness of the truth” (Ephesians 4:24). Only Jesus has the power to heal our memories and free us from the bondage of past experiences that are transformed into memories that constrict our thinking and feeling. When we stop to realize that all of our past experiences are still alive within us and continuing to do damage to our inner selves, we realize that we need our memories transformed if we are to grow spiritually and reach the destiny God has planned for us, His children.

I have found after years of doing therapy with people and in my own therapy, that past memories do impact our present lives and can be real stumbling stones in our attempt to gain the fullness of life and personal freedom. Once we bring past memories to the level of consciousness, we can then choose to not allow these memories to govern our present lives.

Ever since each of us first heard the Christian message, we have heard that we must give ourselves to Christ to find our salvation. Seeing Christ in the events of our lives is precisely a way of doing that. It is not a new message, for this message of inner renewal, the spiritual revolution of our minds, is part of the fabric of the New Testament, and is even prefigured in the Old Testament. Phrases like “inner healing” and “healing of memories” are new, but they are merely an attempt to help contemporary minds understand a scriptural and traditional teaching that says that Jesus has the power and the Love to renew every part of us, inside and out.

The genius of healing of memories, however, is that it is a way of praying that allows God to accomplish this task step by step, memory by memory; it is therefore a way of praying that allows us to know His Love concretely, not abstractly.

The Spirituality of the Christian East — 20160410

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transfigurationIn the last issue I began sharing some information about St. John’s 16th Step, AVARICE. John shares that the first principle of Christian charity is that we should give in accordance with our ability. In our modern world, however, people tend to think of luxuries as necessities. People think that they need to eat extremely well, that they really do need that expensive pair of shoes, or that they need to have abundant savings for a rainy day. This temptation is often worse for those with children. Obviously married people need to provide for their children’s needs, but it is a great temptation for them to use the love of their children as an excuse to satisfy a desire for a luxurious and privileged lifestyle. It can also lead to spoiling our children rotten.

John warns us that even the idea of charity – the desire to have plenty in order to give to others – can be little more than an excuse for avarice.

The more we love our neighbor as ourselves – the more, in other words, we feel the needs of others as though they are our own – the less inclined we will be to consider our luxuries as more important than our neighbor’s basic needs. One author expressed it in this way, “The more you abound in wealth, the more you lack in love”.

The problem, I believe, that we face in our modern world with regard to charity is that we daily hear in the news of the dishonesty of so many people. We are constantly bombarded with news about people who have defrauded others. We constantly hear of the dishonesty of others, even those who do have society’s trust. Think about the scandals we read about in our own area. Most people don’t feel that they can be genuinely charitable to others. Somehow, even with the challenge that this presents, we are called to be charitable.

ACQUIRING THE MIND OF CHRIST — 20160410

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christ_iconSt. Paul, writing to the Corinthians, provided both the matter and the form of sacred theology when he declared:

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

In this Pauline text, the words nous Christou are typically translated by the English phrase mind of Christ. Perhaps a better translation would be Christ’s perception as indicated in the Vulgate’s Latin phrase, sensus Christi. St. Jerome, the author of the Vulgate seems to have interpreted nous Christou in the sense of how Christ Himself understands the things freely given to us by God.

And just what have we been given in Christ? He Himself tells us: “All things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15).  Christ indeed discloses to us the mind of God, and He does this through the medium of His own human mind, His own sensus. The Incarnation is not simply a revealed truth; it is the fact and foundation for knowing all revealed truth, including the truth of salvation. So what we must do is to explore, as much as possible, Jesus’ own self-understanding, His ideas about how to live – His interpretation of His redemptive work. If we want to understand what Jesus was doing on this earth, perhaps we should first inquire what Jesus thought He was doing. This, I believe, is what the apostolic writings were attempting to do.

If the word salvation is taken to summarize “the things freely given to us by God” (Paul), then the first question we should ask is, just what did Jesus the Savior think He was doing in the work of salvation? How did the God-Man perceive what He was about? What, in His mind, were “the things of My Father” that He had to accomplish? What was Jesus’ own sense of redemption?

Understanding salvation to consist in the union of human beings with God, the Church – rather early in the history of sacred theology – perceived (and then went on to define in her conciliar determinations) an intimate connection between the truth of what salvation is  and the truth about what God’s Incarnation means for humanity. The Church determined that man’s salvation required the Savior, God’s divine and eternal Son, to become an integral human being.

The Divine Liturgy and Our Worship of God — 20160410

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resurrection_iconDuring the initial part of our Pentecost Period, that is from Pascha to the Ascension, we repeatedly sing the Easter Tropar (Christ is risen from the dead). Each time we sing it, we sing it three times in a row and we sing it to replace other hymns of the Liturgy. I know that some more modern people think that it is silly to keep repeating things over and over again.

There is a definite intent behind our Church’s repetition of this most powerful prayer. It is repeated many, many times to remind us that our Triune God is the One Who has and is revealing to us the true meaning of human life. Jesus, Who is the physical and material manifestation of our Triune God, did not reveal this to us by Himself. It is our Triune God Who has and is revealing to us that human life is immortal and that God, when He created us, knew how we must live in order to gain the fullness of life. He created us as people who must learn things so that we might voluntarily return His love. By creating humanity in the way He did, He made it possible for us to freely learn how to return His love and to become unto His likeness as expressed very concretely in the Person of Jesus.

One of the things that our constant repetitions does is highlight that the Trinity, that is the conception of God as Three-In-One, is always at the forefront of our worship. All Three Godly Persons were actively involved in the Person of Jesus. The belief that Jesus was truly God and truly man,  reveals to us something also very important, namely that while God is the life-force within human beings, He created us in such a manner that we have our own individual personalities and freedom. This again confirms the idea that although Jesus Christ was God Himself incarnate, Jesus the man also had His own individuality so that He could freely embrace living human life and be a model that all humans could attempt to imitate.

Indeed our religion provides us with such profound thoughts about God and human life – more profound, I believe, that other religions. That is why I am deeply thankful that I was given the gift of faith in the God of Christianity.

I truly hope that in some way my efforts will help others to come to this same conclusion. Pascha is

Understanding Our Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church — 20160410

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brightweekOur Church, which obtained its original ritual (liturgical actions and customs) from the Byzantine tradition, attempts to appeal to all of our senses to convey the meaning of what we believe. For example, during BRIGHT WEEK, which are the eight days, beginning with the feast of PASCHA to the ANTI-PASCH, which we celebrate this weekend, all the doors of the iconostasis remain open and typically all lights remain on when the church building is open.  I truly believe that most people will automatically know what this symbolizes. It symbolizes the impact of the Lord’s Resurrection. The barrier between earth and heaven has been reduced. The altar area, that is where the Throne (altar) is located, is symbolic of heaven or the world to come. The nave (where people gather) is symbolic of an earthly space where believers gather and, of course, the vestibule is the area which represents the world outside of the world of faith. For the faithful, therefore, the barrier between God’s Kingdom on earth and God’s Kingdom in the next world has been penetrated by the Resurrection of Christ.

Our church uses the iconostasis as a symbol to convey the truth about the Lord’s Resurrection.  ALL REALTIY CHANGED when the Lord rose from the dead. For the believer the barrier between this world and the next has been reduced.

Of course we must remember what the initial symbolism of an iconostasis is all about. There is a barrier (wall) that we must penetrate before we can enter into the next world and become more fully united with our God. There are two elements to this barrier. The first element is our physical death   and the second is truly our spiritual transformation – a transformation of our attitudes and behaviors, making them more like Jesus Christ. The two major icons on the iconostasis, those of Jesus and Mary, represent two human beings that not only endured human death but also accomplished this transformation. What exists between them on the iconostasis are the ROYAL DOORS which are opened to those who follow the way of Jesus. We understand this because on the Royal Doors – the gates to the Kingdom of God – are the four evangelists. They actually formulated the way of Jesus in narrative form so that we might have some idea about how to become like Jesus.

The doors of the iconostasis remain open through Bright Week so that we might gain a glimpse of what impact the Lord’s Resurrection has had.

GAINING A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF OUR FAITH — 20160410

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theotokosWe frequently hear in the Christian world that Jesus sacrificed Himself for us. To truly understand what is meant by the “sacrifice” of Jesus, we need to understand the Bible’s understanding of sacrifice.

When we truly study this idea of sacrifice in the Old Testament (OT) we find that attention to God’s wrath was not part of the theology of Israel’s sacrificial system. We must constantly remember that the foundation group of Christianity, and therefore the writers of the texts of the New Testament (NT), were all a part of Judaism and therefore had the   same OT understanding of sacrifice. Indeed, the wrath of God was a concept alien to Israel’s understanding of blood sacrifice. Although the OT has a great deal to say about the divine wrath in connection with sin, it says nothing about it in connection with the sin offering (blood sacrifice).

And if the sin offering was not related to the wrath of God, how much less the other sacrifices prescribed in the Torah. The God worshipped in Israel’s ancient temple was not bloodthirsty. When He became angry, the anger might be turned away by the offering of incense, for example, a symbol of prayer, but it was never appeased by the shedding of blood.

Something similar must be noted with respect to punishment for sin. A chief problem with the theory of “penal substitutionary atonement” (a Western concept of redemption that is brought about by the blood death of Jesus in reparation for humankind’s sins) is the difficulty of justifying it within the biblical understanding of sacrifice. In the Torah there is no indication that the victims of Israel’s various sacrifices (e.g. bulls, goats, sheep, doves) were being punished in any sense whatever. Clearly those mactated animals were substitutes, but not in a sense that implied penal retribution.

In Israel’s sacrificial system neither divine anger nor human punishment was a part of the picture.

Although new to Eastern Theology, the word that perhaps more adequately describes what Christ accomplished on earth is ATONEMENT, understood in a different sense than we usually find in English Christian literature.

Why this word is more appropriate is that its true meaning is “the setting at one”. First, “at-one-ment” conveys the Paul’s idea of reconciliation which is expressed in his writings: “now all things are of God, reconciling us to Himself through Jesus Christ and giving us the ministry of reconciliation.”

I shall continue to explore the Eastern theological understand of redemption.

Reflections on the Scriptural Readings for this Weekend — 20160403

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thomassundayDuring our post-Pascha celebration, our weekly readings are taken mainly from the Acts of the Apostles, which provides us with the early history of the Church, and the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John is the most theological and mystical of the four Gospels.

Today we hear a passage from Acts that says “Through the hands of the apostles, many signs and wonders occurred among the people”. It seems that the apostles were able to cure many of the same illnesses that Jesus did.

This account in Acts tells us that the apostles were arrested because many of the leaders were “filled with jealousy”. They realized that the faith of the apostles was so very attractive and the good works they were able to perform so wondrous, that people were drawn to the Jesus movement.

We see that even when the apostles were rescued from prison, they did not hesitate to immediately go back to preaching and teaching. This testifies to their strong belief in the Person of Jesus.

St. John’s Gospel builds on this idea that a follower of Jesus must be strong in their belief and not doubt. In fact the story of Thomas the twin is all about how Jesus turned Thomas’ doubt into faith. The story ends with these very poignant words: “Blest are they who have not seen and have believed.”

What is striking about the theme in these two readings is the fact that they highlight the fact that one’s faith is not real if it depends upon “proof”.

While faith is offered to us as a gift from God, nevertheless we have to make an effort to accept this gift and to embrace it without proof. We have to make, as they say, an act of faith, putting all of our hope and trust in what we hear about this Jesus and what He taught.

Our faith in Jesus means that we truly believe that God Himself became “incarnate” – He became a human being – in order to help us discover not only who we are in His creation but also to learn how to more effectively live this present earthly life so that we might be able to experience the fullness of life – to experience God’s Kingdom here and now.

I truly believe that it is critical that we think in terms of God’s Kingdom here and now. His gift of faith has been given to us so that we might cooperate with His Spirit in bringing about His Kingdom here and now. The work of a follower of Jesus is not to work for a future Kingdom but, rather, to work to make God’s Kingdom real right now for himself and others.

The Spirituality of the Christian East — 20160403

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Ladder of Divine AccentOn St. John’s Ladder of Ascent, the 16th step is devoted to AVARICE.  St. John writes that avarice is a worship of idols and is the offspring of unbelief and that the miser sneers at the gospel and is a deliberate transgressor. The man of charity spreads his money about him, but the man who claims to possess both charity and money is a self-deceived fool.

How much is too much? Where is the dividing line between what I need and what I want? This problem applies not only to gluttony, but to all material needs, particularly money. Just as gluttony is the passion that distorts our definition of need in terms of food and drink, avarice is the passion that distorts our definition of need in terms of money and luxury.

The first principle of Christian charity is that we should give in accordance with our ability. What   matters in God’s eyes is not how much we give, but how much we sacrifice. As many Church Fathers have said, to give from our poverty is more valuable in God’s eyes than to give from our abundance. This is because the underlying principle of Christian charity is self-denying love. As St. Basil the Great writes, ‘Are you poor? You know someone who is even poorer. Do not shrink from giving the little you have; do not prefer your own benefit to remedying the common distress.’

However, this simple principle of giving what we can is complicated by the way we adjust our definition of need to suit the desire to satisfy our passions.

In our modern world, this 16th step I believe is truly something we should think about. We are so often mesmerized by the latest technology or fashion. We must take this into consideration.
Think about this!