To Always Desire to Know God

 Another ecclesial union, a gathering expressed in the icon is that of mankind and angels...

Every liturgy we celebrate is not just a gathering of humans but also of angels, we sinned against the good angels when we listened to the fallen angels and we therefore need to be reconciled to the good angels for not listening to them. .

According to St Maximus the Confessor, Christ reintroduced us to the good angels when ascending into heaven he passed through all nine ranks of angels and reintroduced us to the angels saying "I forgive them so you must forgive them" .

So one might ask why one needs all this complexity and richness? Is not the Christian life just between me and my God?

We need this communionality, not just of people, but of angels and all this stuff because we're made in God's image and God is a Trinity, God is a community. We are in God's image and likeness as a community rather than as isolated individuals. And this Trinitarian source of everything in this Icon is indicated at the very top of this icon where we see a single source of light seperating into three rays...as an aside but an imporant sort of aside, the heart of this partial hidden sphere at the top is of a dark blue and this symbolizes that God in His essence is entirely uknowable, even in the age to come we will never know God in His essence. He is always the Creator and we are always the creation. However in the outer edges we see white light and this symbolizes God's outgoing grace, His knowability.

I've been married to my wife for about twenty years and I know her but I also don't know her, the day I think I know her, I've lost her. I got to keep reminding myself here's a profound mystery and to get to know her through her energies, but at the heart of my wife made in God's image is a pround mystery.

The more we know this, we'll want to bow down and kiss each other's feet, because before us we have an awesome creature.

So we can say that Christians aren't pantheists, we don't say everything is god, rather we are panentheists, we say "God is in everything"

+ Iconographer Aidan Hart, 'From Genesis to Jerusalem' - Talk on a new icon of creation (talk & panel conversation), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ugxxxz2vAU&t=2094s , fromInstitute for Orthodox Christian Studies Cambridge Youtube ( https://www.youtube.com/@institutefororthodoxchrist517 )

A Memory That Saves

"You must know that there is nothing higher, or stronger, or sounder, or more useful afterwards in life, than some good memory, especially a memory from childhood, from the parental home. You hear a lot said about your education, yet some such beautiful, sacred memory, preserved from childhood, is perhaps the best education. If a man stores up many such memories to take into life, then he is saved for his whole life. And even if only one good memory remains with us in our hearts, that alone may serve some day for our salvation."

+ Alyosha in Fyodor Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov

Seminary: Pointing Towards Beauty

"Remember what a significant part of the means for this holy enterprise was given by foreigners. We must show them the beauty of Orthodoxy. May this church be a place of brotherly intercommunion and the rapprochement of all Christians … Here prayer shall be unceasing, not only for all Russian peoples labouring and heavy-laden, and scattered abroad in the sorrow of exile, but for the peace of the whole world, for the welfare of God’s holy churches, and for the union of them all." 

+ Metropolitan Evlogii, At the Consecration of Institut Saint-Serge in Paris, France, July 18th, 1924. (Lowrie 1954, S. Sergius in Paris: the Orthodox Theological Institute, p. 11.)

"For peace in the whole world, for the stability of the holy churches of God, and for the unity of all, let us pray to the Lord." 

+ From The Great Litany, The Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom

The Royal Martyr on Marriage and Family Life

A humble and encouraging reminder by Royal Martyr Empress Alexandra Fedorovna...

On Marriage and Family Life
Excerpts from notes made by the Royal Martyr Empress Alexandra Fedorovna
http://www.holy-transfiguration.org/library_en/fam_marriageAlex1.html

Orthodox Mission: The Liturgy after the Liturgy

THE LITURGY AFTER THE LITURGY
BY Fr Ion Bria
http://www.iocc.org/orthodoxdiakonia/index.php?id=7



In recent years, there has been a strong emphasis in Orthodox ecclesiology on the eucharistic understanding of the Church.

The Melody of Theology

The Melody of Theology

Fr. John Shimchick (from: Jacob's Well, Fall 1996)

"Without ceasing and without silence, they praise the goodness of God, in the venerable and thrice-illumined melody of theology." -- Nicephorus of Constantinople

Pointing Towards a Cure

Very humbling reminder...

"Father Alexander’s unique gift as theologian and critic was his refusal to unmask the demons without pointing to a cure. Unlike many theologians today who are engaged in a relentless critique of church life and culture with their all-too-familiar attacks on secularism, Father Alexander always lifted his audience in the direction of a solution."

+  Fr Alexis Vinogradov, Revisiting Father Alexander Schmemann’s Work on the Problems of the Church in America: The Liturgical Problem

The Beauty and Gift of Translation

"Translation is an art that involves a certain ascetic discipline. It requires one to enter so fully into the language to be rendered into another tongue that the original language and its meaning becomes one's own.

A good translation does not simply render a text word for word, nor does it consist of a paraphrase that reproduces only an approximation of the original meaning. This is especially true with translations of sacred texts. To produce a "good" translation of the Holy Scriptures - one that conveys beauty as well as sense - the translator needs to approach the text globally, holistically, in order to penetrate to the depths of its intended message. That message, however, is only partially expressed by words, sentences, and all the components that make up a literary unit. While remaining faithful to the generally accepted meaning of words, the translator will find meaning beyond the words themselves through a process of "communion." One takes the text into oneself, as it were, in order to grasp its ultimate meaning at the level of the heart as well as of the mind. Truly to understand the text, and thus to be able to render it into another language, the translator needs to hear and even "feel" its meaning. In the case of Scripture, this implies that one move beyond a rational understanding of the message conveyed by a given passage, to embrace and be embraced by the Subject of that message.

Christianity as Revelation

"One cannot say that Christianity is a religion. Christianity is a revelation of eternity and life. The angels rejoice greatly because God has revealed Himself mystically to His creature, man. Our human nature has become part of the mystery of the Holy Trinity, and that is a great gift which we do not even appreciate; instead, we have cleaved to the things of this world. We have been given the opportunity to prepare ourselves for eternity, to vanquish evil, and to always be with our Heavenly Father."

+ Elder Thaddeus, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives, 148.

PS keep in mind it's not about hatred of the material in the docetist sense, but rather the embrace of the world and of paradise as it should be. Orthodoxy reveals the eschatological truth of all things. Which is why Elder Thaddeus speaks about thought. I think there's something about his mention of peace that speaks about seeing and living with clarity of a Saint, one in union with God.

Mother Gabriella (Gerontisa Gavriellia) on Faith and Love

Some encouraging words from the Apophthegmata of the Mother Gabriella (Gerontisa Gavriellia):

And Mother said ...

Only one thing do I know that I have always, and it is not pride, nor fantasy, but that which I have day and night, wherever I find myself-three things: first, Faith; second, Faith; third, Faith. That's all! Nothing else can I say to you. It has directed all my life.
When we believe and someone says, "Do you want to come to Lebanon with me?" I say, "Yes."
"How do you say Yes to everything?"
I say yes because I believe that if it is not for my good God will make it so that the No will come from the very one who invited me. Some paper will not be ready, or something will happen.
Today I am ninety years old-may you live so long! I read again and again and again in the Gospels, and I see something strange. Jesus Christ comes and says to the Apostles, "Leave now what you have and follow Me."
Now, if they said, "And who are you? Why should we lose what we have? Why should we lose our profit? Where will you take us? What will you do with us?"-if they had said that, what would have happened? They would have remained in darkness.
They said Yes to some Unknown who came and said, "Throw all that away!" Why? Because they believed in God, and they waited for the One who would say to them, "Come!" And that was the beginning.
Because if we say No, what will happen? ... One or the other: If you believe, you will walk on the water like St. Peter. If you are scared-Bloop! Nothing else.
Through all my life it has been like that. They called me to the strangest and most distant place in India. One night they sent me a message: "Come and see someone who is sick." We started out in an ox cart driven by some shepherd boy. And as we were going up the mountain in the forest, what do I see above us? Two eyes shining, a tiger. What do you say then? "Lord have mercy on me, and may Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
So I closed my eyes and saw that written within me. Because He said to us, "Why do you worry? Why do you worry? Even the hairs of your head are numbered!" Why worry? Faith is lacking. May we have faith.

Again, Mother said ...

Once when I was there where I was, some foreign missionary came and said to me, "You may be a good woman, but you're not a good Christian."
I said, "Why?"
"Because you have been here so long and you only go about speaking English. What local languages have you learned?"
I said to him, "I haven't managed to learn any of the local languages, because I travel a great deal from place to place. As soon as I learn one dialect, they start speaking another. I've only learned 'Good morning' and 'Good evening.' Nothing else."
"Bah, you're no Christian. How can you evangelize? All the Catholics and Protestants learn all the local dialects in order to ..."
Then I said, "Lord, give me an answer for him." I asked it with all my heart, and then I said, "Ah. I forgot to tell you. I know five languages."
"Really? What are these five?"
"The first is the smile; the second is tears. The third is to touch. The fourth is prayer, and the fifth is love. With these five languages I go all around the world."
Then he stopped and said, "Just a minute. Say that again so I can write it down."
With these five languages you can travel the whole earth, and all the world is yours. Love everyone as your own-without concern for religion or race, without concern for anything.
Everywhere are people of God. You never know if the one you see today might tomorrow be a saint.

Singing

"Sometimes singing in moderation successfully relieves the temper. But sometimes, if untimely and immoderate, it lends itself to the lure of pleasure. Let us then appoint definite times for this, and so make good use of it."

+ St John of the Ladder

Five Talks on Marriage

Five Talks on Marriage
by Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom)

Download the PDF from http://stnicholasdc.org/files/Sacraments/Five-Talks-on-Marriage.pdf

I 

Marriage and the Eucharist 

Church as Eucharistic Community

Church as Eucharistic Community

by Metropolitan Anthony Bloom ( http://masarchive.org/Sites/texts/1988-03-04-1-E-E-T-EW02-002ChurchAsEucharisticCommunity.html )
Forum talk at Pushkin House 4 March, 1988

Some years ago on a similar occasion Archbishop Alexis van der Mensbrugge said to me: 'I can't understand how it is: I am a learned theologian and I need a lot of preparation before I give a talk. You know nothing and you are always prepared to talk.’ And he left the question open. Well, this is the situation at present. I am not going to speak on Bishop John's subject, but I want to say something about the Church as a eucharistic community, because it is a term which is very widely used and which I believe is fraught with great risks and leading to great misunderstandings. Partly as a result of the theology of St Sergius in Paris, partly because of the growth of the practice of frequent Communion in the parishes, the term of eucharistic community has come to mean in the minds of most people that the Church can be defined as the gathered community around the eucharistic celebration. And up to a point this is true. The Church is the only body in the world that is possessed of this mystery of communion of our mystical union with Christ through his Body and Blood. But this conception of the Church as a gathered community, and more especially as a community centred on one of the sacraments of the Church, has, to my mind, serious consequences and very unsatisfactory ones.

Giving and Imparting as Mission

"I never stopped trying to exercise my missionary efforts while teaching or talking to or counselling my students. I wasn’t bent on having them join my church, but I was trying to be contagious and to instil in them a sense of faith, of trust, of beauty, and finally of joy.

My idea always was, and still is, to try to discover what is missing in a person’s vision of life, what venue to use in order to reach people on their own ground. Whenever I feel a void, I try to fill it with hope and higher expectations from real life; not career, nor knowledge, but the poetic sacred aspect of life, so often missing from people’s lives.

I insist that it is our sacred duty as those blessed with such abundant blessings from our life: our faith, our church and its services, Pascha, the beauty of nature, faithful friends, etc., to share these blessings with any and all who come into our lives, who cross our path and who dwell, if even momentarily, in our line of vision...

...Every one of us, every day has a chance to proclaim one’s faith and love in deeds and works, in compassion and love, in bringing peace and being truly grateful.

This is mission. Give unto others what we have in abundance."

+ Matushka Juliana Schmemann, "The Joy to Serve" (Montreal: Alexander Press, 2009) 78-80.

Feast of Annunciation

Today is the Feast of Annunciation in the Coptic Orthodox Church. Happy Feast everyone!

Icon of the Annunciation, Deir Al-Surian, Wadi Natrun

"Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit . 

Today is revealed a mystery that is from all eternity.

Thee Son of God becomes the Son of man 

that sharing in what is worse he may make me share in what is better.

In times of old Adam was once deceived

he sought to become God but receive not his desire

now God becomes man that He might make Adam God.

Let creation rejoice let nature exult 

for the Archangel stands in fear before the Virgin 

and saying to her "rejoice" he brings to her 

the joyful greeting whereby our sorrow is relieved.

O thou who In thy Merciful compassion 

was made man o our God glory to thee."

+ Idiomelon of the Feast of Annunciation, Tone 2

A Tree called Beauty

Fr Johnathan has a beautiful reflection on his blog:

http://janotec.typepad.com/terrace/2016/04/lonely-gods-and-a-tree-called-beauty.html

lonely gods and a tree called beauty

Two Commands of Love

"The last type in Mother Maria’s analysis is the ‘evangelical’ type. She begins by distinguishing this from the way ‘evangelical’is often used –which she sees as marked by sectarianism, moralism and a ‘distorted and impoverished view of salvation’–and also from attempts to ‘Christianize’ or ‘enchurch’ society, which are only milder versions of the same thing.

O Cross of Christ

"Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The cross that is raised today is like a multi-faceted diamond. The cross that is raised is what our enemies, the enemies of the faith, call us; we are, "The People of the Cross."

We are the People of the Cross, this is how we are defined by the people who martyr our brother and sisters... "The People of the Cross" - that means you, and me, and all of us here, we are the People of the Cross. 

And the cross is the revelation of who God is, the cross is the revelation of how God saves, the cross is the revelation also of what is behind human fear and violence. This is the same cross that today we see in our churches, the same cross that St. Paul said in his epistle I want to be crucified on, this is the cross that St. Paul says is the only reality he wants to know; "I only want to know among you Jesus Christ and Him crucified."

Forgiveness

FORGIVENESS

That God forgives us, let us forgive men,

As temporary guests, we are on this earth.

Prolonged fasting and prayer, in vain is

Without forgiveness and without true mercy.

God is the true Physician; sins are leprosy,

Whoever God cleanses, God also glorifies.

God rewards with mercy, every mercy of men,

That one perishes without mercy, who returns sin with sin,

With pus from pus – infected wounds, pus is not cleansed,

Neither is darkness from the dungeon dispelled by darkness,

But pure balm heals the wound of pus,

But the darkness of the dungeon, a light disperses.

To the seriously wounded, mercy is like a balm,

As a torch, in her [mercy] everyone rejoices.

This the ignorant says: I have no need of mercy!

But, when he is overcome by misery, he cries out for mercy!

Men bathe upon the mercy of God,

That mercy of God awakes us to life!

That God forgives us, let us forgive men,

As temporary guests, we are all on this earth.

+ Hymn of Praise from The Prologue of Ohrid, http://thehandmaid.wordpress.com/2013/03/17/that-god-forgives-us/

The Treasure Within

"the Church must convey the importance of the rites and rituals of the faith, starting with the initiatory rites of Baptism and Chrismation. Our life in Christ begins at Baptism; it ought to supply for us a firm foundation upon which we can build our lives. The Lectionary provides a wellspring of lessons on Baptism; through the ordinary proclamation of the Scriptures, priests can bring to the fore the importance of Baptism. Likewise, the Church year itself—especially the feasts of Epiphany, Easter, and Pentecost—offers many wonderful examples of renewing of our lives in Christ through water and the Spirit. The Collects, chants, and prayers of these festivals supply ample material to inspire such preaching and teaching."

+ Fr William C. Mills