Simplicty of Being Loved

"When we begin to discover and to drop the barriers and fears which prevent us from being ourselves and which prevent the life of the Holy Spirit from flowing through us, we become more simple. Simplicity is no more and no less than being ourselves, knowing that we are loved. It is knowing that we are accepted, with our qualities, our flaws and as we are in the depths of our being. Simplicity is letting the love and the light of God flow and shine through us."

+ Jean Vanier, Community and Growth

The Deeper Message of Forgiveness

"We think always of forgiveness as a way in which we would say to a person who has offended, hurt, humiliated us, that the past is past and that we do not any more hold a grudge against this person. But what forgiveness means more deeply than this is that if we can say to a person: let us no longer make the past into a destructive present, let me trust you, make an act of faith in you, if I forgive you it means in my eyes you are not lost, in my eyes there is a future of beauty and truth in you."

+ Metropolitan Anthony Bloom

Religous Feelings

"Religious feeling, on the contrary, easily accepts a rupture between religion and life and gets along happily with ideas, convictions, sometimes entire worldviews that are not only alien to Christianity but frequently openly contradictory to it."

+ Fr Alexander Schmemann. "The Eucharist." Translated by Paul Kachur. (New York: St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1987) 144.

"We should not depend on sentiment in our relationship with God. Instead, we should be fortified by a faith that goes beyond our feelings."

+ Fr Mattew the Poor, Guidelines on Prayer.

Remembering the Cross

Happy Feast of the Cross (in the Old Calendar)

"The power of our Christianity is closely and deeply tied to our faith and our relationship with the Holy Cross, and its apparition in our lives is a powerful force against the devil, materialism and worldly desires. The Cross is a power that transforms envy to love, revenge to forgiveness and flaunting to simplicity. The Cross then fills you with joy, so we pray with St Paul: “ But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Galatians 6:14)

Therefore, the Cross must be clearly seen in the Church, so our church also becomes bearing the Cross of our Lord; the Cross of service and missionary; the Cross of partaking of our Lord’s passions and glory; the Cross of loving EVERYONE and abhorring the world, a cross from which the aroma of love, blessing and peace spreads to the ends of the earth.

May the blessings of the Holy Cross be with us all. Amen."

+ Hegumen Bishoy Kamel, Alexandria, Egypt

Fr Stephen Freeman on Evangelism and the Ego

A very humbling and important blog post by Fr Stephen Freeman. His observations on the ego are very profound. I also have started to read Dr Jean-Claude Larchet's "Therapy of Spiritual Illnesses" recently translated by Alexander Press ( you can buy a copy here: http://alexanderpress.com/ ) which appears to address the similar issue of "fallen passions."

Perhaps evangelism if not understood in the correct restorative context can also be a 'fallen passion.' I think of the focus on subduing creation instead of restoring and offering it. Of conquering and crusading (and the implication of opposition that has to be overcome) instead of drawing, inviting, encountering and raising people and places back to the fullness of Truth that is encountered and witnessed in the Liturgical Life and Lived Theology of the Orthodox Church.

Lot's to think about and pray about. Je Nai Nan. Lord Have Mercy.

Orthodoxy is Orthodoxy.

Imparting Peace

Imparting Peace and Words of Comfort 

One Friday they were out harvesting and it was Simeon’s turn to cook the midday meal. Forgetting that it was Friday, he prepared a dish of pork for their lunch, and they all ate of it. Six months later, on a feast-day in winter, Simeon’s father turned to him with a gentle smile and said,

St Silouan the Athonite

‘Son, do you remember how you gave us pork to eat that day in the fields? It was a Friday. I ate it but, you know, it tasted like carrion.’

‘Why ever didn’t you tell me at the time?’

‘I didn’t want to upset you, son.’

Recalling such incidents from his life at home, the Staretz would add, ‘That is the sort of staretz I would like to have. He never got angry, was always even-tempered and humble. Just think - he waited six months for the right moment to correct me without upsetting me!’

+ Archmandrite Sophrony, "Part 1: The Staretz' Life and Teaching," in "Saint Silouan the Athonite." Translated by Rosemary Edmonds. (New York: St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1999) 12-13.

Words Appropriate

"Theology, whose essence lies in the search for “words appropriate to God”, is called to be such a salvation of words through the power of God. But it fulfils its mission not with the help of definitions, not through “words about words,” but by referring words to that reality and to that experience of it that is more primary than the word itself and in relation to which the word is a symbol, manifestation, gift, partaking, possession. For it is precisely as a symbol—i.e., not as a definition of reality, which in the end is undefinable, but as its manifestation and gift, as partaking in it and as possession of it—that the word was created. Through the symbol the word frees itself from its fall and rises to that encounter with reality and that reception of it that we call faith."

+ Fr Alexander Schmemann. "The Eucharist." Translated by Paul Kachur. (New York: St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1987) 149.

Asomen (Let us Praise)

Asomen (Let us Praise)

Orthodox Hymn for the Feast of Pentecost (Coptic Rite)

Let us praise the Lord , for with glory He was glorified. He ascended into the heavens and sent to us the Paraclete , Spirit of truth , [the Comforter]. Amen. Alleluia.

He made the two into one, that is, heaven and the earth. He ascended...

O come, all your peoples, let us bow down and worship Jesus Christ He ascended...

This is God our Saviour, and the Lord of all flesh. He ascended...

Three in unity and unity of three; the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Spirit of Truth, [the Comforter]. Amen. Alleluia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZftp9IfwPw

What is Peace?

"Do not rail against anyone, but rather say, 'God knows each one.' Do not agree with him who slanders, do not rejoice at his slander and do not hate him who slanders his neighbor. This is what it means not to judge. Do not have hostile feelings towards anyone and do not let dislike dominate your heart; do not hate him who hates his neighbor. This is what peace is: Encourage yourself with this thought, 'Affliction lasts but a short time, while peace is for ever, by the grace of God the Word.'"

+ St. Moses the Ethiopian.

Prayer for the Departed in the Coptic Rite

It is truly wonderful to see how much the Orthodox funeral prayers are focused on healing, union and restoration into the divine life of Chist which is the Orthodox concept of salvation. Here are some excerpts from the prayers of the departed in the Coptic Rite:

...You have created man for life and not death....

...You have not created humans for curses but for blessings. ...
...Clothe him/her with them the pure garment and unending joy in the sovereignty of light that You have prepared for those who please You...

...For there is no death to Your servant but a departure from death to life, and no death will overcome us because of the death of Your Only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord....

...all are alive with You, those who are worthy for Your greatness....

...You are our helper and our protector and our savior and our hope and our healing and our resurrection and our eternal life altogether....

...And we ask You, O our Master to number us with them, and give us rest with Your holy flock, who have attained to stand at Your right hand....

Orthodox funeral prayers (in all the different rites of the many local Churches) actually say alot about life and the journey of the Church.

Let us pray to embrace liturgical theology, our lived theology, and encounter the deeper mysteries of the Person of Christ within the life, word, deeds and being of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

May the following excerpt from the Coptic Rite of the Orthodox Church encourage your prayer and deepen your encounter of Christ in the Liturgy after the Liturgy.


+ + +

Prayers for the departed

Priest: Again,let us ask God the Pantocrator, the Father of our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ. We ask and entreat Your goodness, O lover of mankind, remember, O Lord, the souls of Your servants who have fallen asleep, our fathers and our brethren.

Liturgy as School

"...the liturgy is the unique expression of the Church, of its faith and of its life. This is because the liturgy, as the Fathers of the Church have taught, is "the living source and the ultimate criterion of all Christian thought." Through liturgy, the faithful learn about their faith and tradition and thereby grow in grace and holiness. Liturgy and the liturgical life are schools in themselves. This is very true for the Orthodox faithful, since the liturgy functions as a catechesis for them. Perhaps this explains why no Sunday Schools were developed in the Orthodox tradition. The liturgy is a source for theology and an expression of the faith and life of the Church. It is in the liturgy itself, as we have seen above, that the word of God becomes alive - sanctifying and enriching the life of the faithful and empowering them to go out and proclaim the Risen Lord."

+ Eugene Aydin. "Rediscovering the Didactic and Missiological Aspects of Liturgy for Today." in "Worship Traditions in Armenia and the Neighboring Christian East: An International Symposium in Honor of the 40th Anniversary of St Nersess Armenian Seminary." Edited by Roberta R. Ervine. (New York: St Vladimir's Seminary Press/ St Nersess Armenian Seminary, 2006) 305.

This doesn't mean that we are to abolish Sunday Schools, but rather to recognize that we are to base our teaching on a lived theology, a participation in the liturgical life of the Church and take that life into the world for the life of the world. I think this is where catechesis like the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd are a modern way of encouraging this lived theology. So perhaps we can suggest that although there might not have been "Sunday Schools" in the Orthodox tradition, there has always been active catechesis (we're all being catechists in some respects) from infancy to ones falling asleep in the Lord. The point of meditations on the lived theology of the liturgy is not to create a pietistic distortion where spiritualism reigns and 'learned-lived' knowledge is relegated to another 'floor' in the mind of the Church. Instead, the importance of liturgy to missiology and to all of life is in the way it is an icon, a synthesis and coalescing of life revealed as it should be, in the Cross and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I would argue that whatever we learn in school in a Theological program, whatever we experience in prayer, whatever we read in Scripture, whatever we experience in our missiological and philanthropic endeavours of compassion, or whatever bioethical, social or moral assertions we offer to the world, must be affirmed and lived in the liturgical life (the grammar of the Church's dance with God) and in each moment being ripe with an ever present encounter of Christ, crucified and risen, now and evermore. Amen.

The King's Image

"Any coin has its value from the king's image on it, but our soul's value remains in the king's image inside, God's own image." 

+Fr. Daoud Lamei, St Mark Heliopolis, September 22, 2012

"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me."

+ The Gospel According to St John the Beloved Chapter 15, Verse 4

"If any man then think it a good and desirable thing to partake of the Divine nature and to have God Who is the Father of the universe indwelling and abiding in the shrine of the heart by His Son, in the Spirit, let him thoroughly purge his soul, and wash away the stain of wickedness, by whatever means he can; and most of all, by all kinds of well-doing. For then will he become truly the temple of God; and He will rest and abide in him, according to the Scripture."

+ St. Cyril: Commentary on the Gospel of St. John, Book 10, volume II, Introduction, 24, p 334

"At the turning of the bread and wine into Your body and Blood, our souls shall be turned unto fellowship with Your glory, and our souls shall be united to Your divinity...And as You are one in Your Father and Your Holy Spirit, may we be one in You and You in Us, that Your saying may be fulfilled, “That they may all be one in Us.” "

+ From the Fraction by St. Cyril (Fraction of “O Lamb of God”) (Coptic Rite)

"You who did fashion me of old out of nothingness, and with Your Image Divine did honor me; but because of the transgressions of Your commandments, did return me again to the earth from whence I was taken; lead me back to be refashioned into that ancient beauty of Your likeness."

+ From Evlogetaria for the Dead, Tone 5, Orthodox Funeral Hymn

The Fraction by St Cyril and Union with God

In the Coptic Orthodox Divine Liturgy there is a Fraction called "O Lamb of God" also called the "Fraction by St. Cyril".

Notice how the Christian Theology of Salvation is woven very beautifully in the Fraction? Notice how the Fraction prayer is about current participation and cooperation [union and communion] with God here and now (ie. that He's not far away "pie-in-the-sky"). 

Notice the language of 'raising', of ascent to heavenly joy, of restoration/healing of things as they should be, which is one of the blessings of Liturgical life. 

This fraction is an example of how the life of the Church and the Liturgical life preserves truths of the mystery of the Cross and remains vibrant in the heart of the Body of Christ. 

As we meditate on the beauty of the Fraction, here are two sobering thoughts that Fr. Alexander Schmemann mentions in one of his books concerning Liturgy and the Christian Life:

"I am convinced that the genuine revival of the Church begins with eucharistic revival, but in the fullness of this word. The tragic flaw in the history of Orthodoxy has proven to be not only the incompleteness but, I daresay, the absence of a theology of the sacraments, its reduction into western schemes and categories of thought. The Church is not an organization but the new people of God. The Church is not a religious cult but a liturgy, embracing the entire creation of God. The Church is not a doctrine about the world to come but the joyous encounter of the kingdom of God. It is the sacrament of peace, the sacrament of salvation and the sacrament of the reign of Christ."

+ Fr Alexander Schmemann, The Eucharist 

 "What concerns the eucharist concerns the Church, and what concerns the Church concerns the eucharist, so that any ailment in the liturgy reflects on our faith and on the whole life of the Church." 

+ Fr Alexander Schmemann, The Eucharist

Let us continue to pray for lived theology in our lifelong liturgical participation in the divine life of Christ. Glory to God for all things.

The Fraction by St. Cyril (Fraction of  “O Lamb of God”)

Holy God Holy Mighty Holy Immortal

Every hour and every daylike heaven on earth it's time to pray

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, Have mercy on us.

At the first hour we worship Him, The Morning Sun Who Rose again.
Every hour and every daylike heaven on earth it's time to pray
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, Have mercy on us.

At the third hour the Spirit cameinto our hearts It's love to remain.
Every hour and every daylike heaven on earth it's time to pray
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, Have mercy on us.

At the sixth hour He nailed to the crossthe sins that made us suffer death.
Every hour and every daylike heaven on earth it's time to pray
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, Have mercy on us.

At the ninth hour He died for us. Now we have life and forgiveness.
Every hour and every daylike heaven on earth it's time to pray
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, Have mercy on us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw7m153bJWI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEIwnR_FIrQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o89gX9s-yk

It's nice to see sharing of hymnology within the different Orthodox Rites.

Orthodoxy is Orthodoxy

Prayer Unites and Heals

"Perseverance in prayer cleanses the intellect, illumines it, and fills it with the light of truth. The virtues, led by compassion, give the intellect peace and light. The cleansing of the intellect is not a dialectical, discursive and theoretical activity, but an act of grace through experience and is ethical in every respect. The intellect is purified by fasting, vigils, silence, prayer, and other ascetic practices."

St. Isaac the Syrian.

Orthodox Wedding Liturgy in the Coptic Rite

Here's a video and text of the Orthodox Liturgy of Holy Matrimony in the Coptic rite.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKWpEkuTUg8&t=1m48s

+ + +

THE LITURGY OF HOLY MATRIMONY

The service begins with a procession with the future bride and groom, led by the chanters, readers, subdeacons, deacons and priests walking together from the west doors of the nave, towards the chancel.  During this procession, the following hymn is sung:

O Heavenly King

"O Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, who is present in all places and fills all, the treasury of good things and the Life‑Giver, graciously come, and dwell in us and purify us from all defilement, O Good One, and save our souls."

+ From The Third Hour Litany, Prayer of the Canonical Hours (Coptic Rite)

The Descent of the Holy Spirit
Icon at St George Coptic Orthodox Parish, Toledo

The Holy Spirit is very meek. He answers the call of man at once – provided that the person calls in sincerity, faith and simplicity. It would be enough to call Him as one calls a pure and simple child, and he would listen and respond right away. The book of the Coptic canonical hours teaches us to address Him in these words:  “kindly come and abide in us.”

So it is that the Holy Spirit rests in one’s heart, by means of a simple but firm faith in God’s mercy. Now the abiding of the Holy Sprit is not accompanied by any sensational sign. He finds no rest in cries and discords, or in a heart which is cruel, malicious, wrathful or proud; or in a worldly man, or in a lover of earthly things; or in a man disposed to fleeting beauty; or in one aspiring to the glories of this world.

The Holy Spirit is a friend and partner of a poor but grateful man, as well as of a rich man who loves the poor. He is the comforter of persecuted subordinates and merciful bosses, a light to the wretched and a life to those who dedicate themselves to the service of the Gospel and to charity among the  poor. Therefore, to safeguard the power of the Holy Spirit that  sanctions prayer and lifts it to God, we should first  learn to satisfy Him by shunning all faults inconsistent with His meekness, holiness and love.

Moreover, he or she who prays before God should also have full trust aided by the Holy Spirit, who gave birth to us at the baptismal font. One should repeatedly cry our from the depths of one’s heart, calling upon Him to qualify him for prayer and grant us power to fulfill it in accordance with the wish of the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Prayer concerns the Holy Spirit more than it concerns us. For through prayer the new man begotten by the Holy Sprit within us grows up till he attains enlightenment, accepts the will of God, and learns how to implement it by grace.

Fr Matta el-Meskeen (Fr Matthew the Poor), Guidelines on Prayer

Restoration in the Coptic Orthodox Baptismal Liturgy

Grant that the image of Christ be portrayed in those who receive the baptism of the new birth...

Truly those who have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ forever! 

Beautifully the Orthodox Baptismal Liturgies (in this case those in the Coptic Orthodox Rite) speak about  restoration by grace to the image and likeness of God. If we look at the words prayed in funerals (in the Byzantine Rites) we see the same mention of restoration:

"You who did fashion me of old out of nothingness, and with Your Image Divine did honor me; but because of the transgressions of Your commandments, did return me again to the earth from whence I was taken; lead me back to be refashioned into that ancient beauty of Your likeness."

As you read the following excerpts from Coptic Orthodox Baptismal rites keep in mind the Byzantine rite hymns above. Orthodoxy is Orthodoxy.

A Prayer by Tamav Irini

(Thanks to Hoda for translating this prayer from Arabic.)

God help us praise You from our hearts ..... Let us worship You with the spirit and the truth.... Lord You are the God of mercy, love and emotion. You created the heavens and decorated it with Your great glory  and angels .... You are the foundation of the earth and everything in it.  God You are able to do anything.

My God, Jesus Christ don't treat us according to our evil doing, sins, weakness and don't treat us according to Your fairness but rather with Your everlasting mercies.... Your mercy are numerous. Your mercy is like a flowing river..... Your mercies purify us from our evil and sins. Yes God You are merciful and kind..... Yes God sympathetic, merciful and loving.

God we are weak and meek, but we believe in Your kindness that You will not treat us according to our sins but rather with Your mercies... God You are able to work with us and through us.... You are able to change us with Your everlasting humbleness and kindness.... God You are able to give us kindness from Yours.

God You were honest on the cross. So give us to love with Your love. Gives us to love You from all our hearts and all our thoughts. Don't leave us alone with our sorrows and weakness. Choose the life You want for us. God give us to enjoy You because Your will is the best for us.

Teach us God how to live with You... Because life with You is so beautiful and sweet.... Living with You is so sweet, peaceful and calming.   Please don't deprive us from Your glorious mercies.   God please look to Your church in these hard days..... This is Your church and You are her savior... Look at her with a merciful eye... You are able to save her.

You are the God of everybody. You are the king of kings and lord of lords. You created the earth and everything on it. Our pope Shenouda give him aid.  He is Your ambassador on earth fortify him and protect him. He has suffered a lot in Your name.

Guard Your church from Satan.  Protect her from the evil enemy.  Save her O Jesus Christ. It's Your church and You have saved it with Your holy blood   You are the creator of the verses and miracles .... And You will not forsake the church You spilled Your blood for. We hope that You will never leave Your church. We hope in spite of our ego and kebria2 that withholds us from You. Fill us O God with Your holy spirit. God our life is short on earth. Please let the rest be with You. In love with You and with others.

Listen O God to us for Your mother’s sake and for the sake of Your saints. You know that I am weak, who am I to stand and pray for You. Listen for Your saint prayers. I wish that You make me live with You the rest of my life because what if a person won the world but lost his soul?.... Make us live with You from all our hearts and all our thoughts and all our mind. Make us joyful with You Jesus Christ with the amazing life. Living with You is heaven itself.   Have Mercy on us with the concession of the holy virgin Mary Your gentle mother and the payers of all Your saint. And make us worthy to pray thankfully.....

Our Father...

Tamav Irini ( 4 oct 1982)

Fr Mark Aziz on "Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy"

Abouna Mark speaks about being restored to the image and likeness of God and on being Orthodox.

http://www.copticscotland.org/index.php/en/english-sermons/sermon/149-orthodoxy-and-ortho-praxis

"Salvation in the Orthodox Church is to have the life of Christ" + Abouna Mark Aziz

"For the Son dwells in us in a corporeal sense as Man, commingled and united with us by the mystery of the Eucharist; and also in a spiritual sense as God, by the effectual working and grace of His own Spirit, building up our spirit into newness of life, and making us partakers of His Divine Nature." +St. Cyril: Commentary on the Gospel of St. John, Book 11, volume II, Chapter XII, 22,23,  p 554

An Offering

The Crucifixion of the Lord
Icon from St George Coptic Orthodox Parish in Toledo

"By dying, each person must leave something behind, must leave a trace of some kind. Be it a house built with his own hands or a tree he has planted, or a book he has written - but whatever it is it must have been not done for himself but for other people." + Fr Arseny

Being Christian in the World

Being Christian in the World

HE Metropolitan Anthony Bloom

(from talks given at Birmingham University in 1970)



Archbishop Iakovos with Martin Luther King Jr.

[an excerpt from Chapter 2 of "God and Man"]

[For more talks by Metropolitan Anthony you can visit the MAS Archive www.masarchive.org which also includes this series on Doubt and Questioning which was uploaded for easier access on YouTube @ http://tinyurl.com/doubtandquestioning ]

I should like to talk now of the situation of being a Christian in the world; and I should like to preface my remarks by saying that we have a tendency to exaggerate the meaning which we attach to the expression ‘the contemporary world’. The world is always contemporary to someone: at every moment it will be contemporary to a generation of people, and there are general rules that are human and historical which I believe can serve as a basis for our judgement and action. Another thing which I should like to underline is the fact that God is always contemporary. This we very often forget, trying by all sorts of theological efforts to make Him contemporary with us, when He is perfectly contemporary, needs no change to be Himself and to be up to date.

The Life and Mission of Church In the View of Paulos Mar Gregorios

A wonderful read for those interested in missiology....

The Life and Mission of Church

In the View of Paulos Mar Gregorios 

SOURCE: http://johnkunnathu.blogspot.ca/2010/12/life-and-mission-of-church-in-view-of.html


What is church, and what is its mission? This question can be answered from the view of an outsider or an insider. An outsider view, a sociological one, would describe church as an institution or as a voluntary organization of Christian believers. This approach will certainly yield valuable information about the churches today, but not very helpful in  defining the mission of the church. The question of the mission of the church can be meaningfully answered only from an insider view, which is theological. Paulos Mar Gregorios approaches this question extensively as an insider in a number of his published papers and books.1

When Quoting the Fathers

"We think we are being Patristic when we are being the most zealous and unbending, taking up, say, the great diatribes of St Cyril against Nestorius, but we neglect that current within the patristic legacy (found in the same St Cyril in his later years) which was peacemaking, open to reconsideration and reformulation, for the sake of the truth and for the unity of the Church."

+ Peter Bouteneff, “Chalcedonians and Non Chalcedonians: Realizing Unity,” St. Vladimir's Theological Quarterly 42 (1998): 168.

When we sometimes quote the fathers we can potentially use them out of context or in isolation. We risk falling into the same principles of 'sola-scriptura' and read anything we want into and out of the writings of the ancient and modern commentaries.

Another fallacy is to put one father as infallible or in a position of greater authority then the rest, or to only hearken to a particular patristic era in isolation from the living reality of the Church. Hopefully it's more important for readers to realize that the fathers are guided by the Holy Spirit and His work in the present day reader is just as active.

So it is not the work or word of a single father, but the Truth (ie. Christ Crucified and Resurrected and in our midst) speaking in symphony within all the fathers, within Scripture in Tradition, within our Liturgical life and the lived theology of the Church that must be understood and encountered when we as Christians participate in the Church's life according to the mind of the fathers, the mind of the Church, ultimately the mind and body of Christ.

Or as Fr Alexander Schmemann writes:

"The "patristic revival” of our time would miss completely its purpose if it were to result in a rigid “ patristic system” which in reality never existed. It is indeed the eternal merit of the Fathers that they showed the dynamic and not static nature of Christian theology, its power always to be "contemporary” without reduction to any "contemporaneousness,” open to all human aspirations without being determined by any of them. If the return to the Fathers were to mean a purely formal repetition of their terms and formulations, it would be as wrong and as useless as the discarding of the Fathers by "modern” theology because of their presumably "antiquated” world view."

+ Fr. Alexander Schmemann, For Life of the World (New York: St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1963) 146.

Forgive me and pray for me if I ever misquote or misunderstand the fathers, the Church and the Holy Scripture in Tradition.

Glory to God for all things.

A Foretaste

"The blessings of the kingdom within us - which the world-loving eye has not seen, and the presumptuous ear has not heard, and which have not entered into a heart empty of the Holy Spirit (cf. I Cor. 2:9) - are a pledge and foretaste of the blessings to be given by God to the righteous in the kingdom that is to come. If we do not savor the first, which are the fruits of the Spirit (cf. Gal. 5:22), we will not be able to enjoy the second."

Ilias the Presbyter.

Humility's Resilience

"humility will never fail for it is beneath everything" + St Paissi Velichkovsky

Youth, Unity and Orthodoxy in America

Here's an excerpt from Dr Vigen Guroian's paper "Youth, Unity and Orthodoxy in America." It's food for thought for any Orthodox Christian who is going to attend University or College. We pray that Parishes and Dioceses also support OCF jointly (not only supported or sponsored by one Jurisdiction but perhaps have joint sponsorship of OCF Chapters with Chaplains rotating monthly from among the various jurisdictions in the area). Orthodoxy is....

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ynklArdRxw

Orthodox Christian Student Fellowships

Dr. Vigen Guroian

Professor of Orthodox Christianity, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia

Several weeks ago, I received an invitation to deliver a pair of annual lectures at Davidson College, some twenty or thirty miles from Charlotte, North Carolina. The colleague who contacted me explained that I would be the first Orthodox theologian to deliver these lectures. When I asked what prompted this invitation, he mentioned that there now exists an Orthodox Christian Student Fellowship at Davidson, and that it, therefore, seemed fitting to schedule lectures informative to the entire college community regarding the Orthodox faith.

Orthodoxy and the World

Transcription of "Orthodoxy and the World" 

by Very Reverend Protopresbyter Maxym Lysack

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjzcZeQ7U-I
Audio Recorded at St Silouan Orthodox Mission Parish, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Transcript:

...in a kind of systematic way I'm going to speak first about what Orthdodoxy is and speak about what the world is, then talk about living Orthodoxy in the world.

Fagerberg's Theologia Prima

One of the most important books today on Liturgical Theology. Professor David Fagerberg builds on the writings of Fr Alexander Schmemann and Fr. Aiden Kavanagh, synthesizing and presenting the thoughts on Liturgical Theology (What it is, How to encounter it, Why it is important) in a concise and accessible form. Highly recommended book that I think every Christian should read. Fagerberg's book offers the reader a taste of the essence of Orthodox Liturgical life, full of antinomy/paradox and apophatic gleanings.

http://books.google.ca/books/about/Theologia_Prima.html?id=Kok9XGvLJRsC&redir_esc=y
http://www.ltp.org/p-1563-theologia-prima-what-is-liturgical-theology.aspx
http://www.amazon.com/Theologia-Prima-What-Liturgical-Theology/dp/156854510X

Metropolitan Nicholas Speaks About Hope on Anniversary of 9/11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqIOYFTdYoc

Martyrs and Being

Today is the Feast of Nayrouz (Feast of the Martyrs) in the Orthodox Coptic Rite. (Nofri Shai. Kol Sana Wa Inta/Inti Tayeb/a, Happy Feast).

What strikes me as interesting on this feast day commemorating the Martyrs is that the martyrs are those who are present in the Faith. That their witness is not one of dying for a cause, but the active encounter and awareness of a Person.

Orthodox Approach To Mission

Transcription of "The Orthodox Approach to Mission" by Archimandrite Irenei (Steenberg)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1sVNtrfhbY

Transcript:

I would like to speak today on the topic of the Orthodox approach to mission, the transformation of the heart of the world.

Robert Arakaki on Orthodox Worship Versus Contemporary Worship

I remember once reading a post by Fr Stephen Freeman discussing 'contemporary' worship (the post was written back in 2007). Today a very interesting post on O&H Blog was published that speaks on a similar concern about Lex Orandi Lex Est Credendi and which has implications on how we understand Orthodox mission. Arakaki mentions the trends of some of the Mega-Churches (something that Orthodox Parishes can succumb to also btw...ie. the Mass Cult of Big), saying:

They go because the services are fun, exciting, easy to understand, and easy to relate to. 

and

Worship of God often became spiritual entertainment.  The sermon shifted from an exposition of Scripture to selecting Bible verses to support teachings on how to live a fulfilling life.  In seeking to tailor the Christian message to non-Christians many pastors have dumbed down their message with the result that many of their members know very little of the core doctrines.  Just as troubling is the fact that many churches have become spiritual machines that rely more organizational techniques, high tech electronics, and social psychology than the grace of the Holy Spirit.

Arakaki goes on to mention, "If salvation is about a right relationship with God then worship plays an important part in having a right relationship with God." As Orthodoxy grows in North America the need for understanding our Theology and living that encounter becomes increasingly important if we are to recapitulate and offer North American "culture" to God for restoration and for life of the world.

Missiology also requires us to know our identity, our ethos, what, how and Who we believe and worship. This recent O&H post reminds me of a post called "Can Orthodoxy Connect?" on Letters On Orthodoxy Blog that mentions:

1) connection comes from receptivity not similarity and
2) attraction is much less important than maturity.

All the articles seem to resonate with the theme that Liturgy IS Worship, is Sacrament of the Kingdom.

Orthodoxy is Orthodoxy. Our missiology should be also.

Glory to God for all things.

On Joint Commision

Praying for Full Communion, Lifting of Anathemas, and Theological and Pastoral Unity and Growth for the Glory of God and the witness of Christ and His One Holy Catholic Apostolic Church to all the ends of the earth. May the prayer of The Holy Theotokos and all the Saints, and the love, truth, work and humility of Hierarchs, Fathers, Theologians and Laity be with us. Lord Have Mercy and Forgive us our sin. Glory to You, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, One God, forever, from Generation to Generation, to the ages of ages, Amen

For more information on the documents of the Joint Commission: http://orthodoxunity.org/

"For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." + Gal5:26-28

“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me." + John 17: 20-23

Mission

"Mission is taking people where they are and showing what is good true and pure in their lives."+ LTS Student www.livedtheologyschool.org

Gentleness

This is something I've to continue to be reminded of. My friend Mike reminded me that in the pursuit and life of authentic Christianity that one must live and know what it means to be fully Orthodox before we speak about what is or isn't (perhaps more importantly the focus should be seeking the beauty of what Orthodoxy is and calling attention to other people's beauty and allowing them to realize the voice of the Holy Trinity Who is in their midst.)

So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

(NKJV) James 1:19-20

Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

(NKJV) James 3:18

Here's a similar reminder by St Seraphim of Sarov:

You cannot be too gentle, too kind.
Shun even to appear harsh
in your treatment
of each other.
Joy, radiant joy,
streams from the face
of him who gives
and kindles joy in the heart
of him who receives.
All condemnation
is from the devil.
Never condemn each other.
Instead of condemning others,
strive to reach inner peace.
Keep silent,
refrain from judgement.
This will raise you
above the deadly arrows
of slander, insult, and outrage
and will shield your glowing hearts
against all evil.

+ St Seraphim of Sarov