Record of Protest Against the Infringement of Religious Liberty

by the Department of Health and Human Services

The Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America, which is comprised of the 65 canonical Orthodox bishops in the United States, Canada and Mexico, join their voices with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and all those who adamantly protest the recent decision by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, and call upon all the Orthodox Christian faithful to contact their elected representatives today to voice their concern in the face of this threat to the sanctity of the Church’s conscience.

In this ruling by HHS, religious hospitals, educational institutions, and other organizations will be required to pay for the full cost of contraceptives (including some abortion-inducing drugs) and sterilizations for their employees, regardless of the religious convictions of the employers.

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion. This freedom is transgressed when a religious institution is required to pay for “contraceptive services” including abortion-inducing drugs and sterilization services that directly violate their religious convictions. Providing such services should not be regarded as mandated medical care.  We, the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops, call upon HHS Secretary Sebelius and the Obama Administration to rescind this unjust ruling and to respect the religious freedom guaranteed all Americans by the First Amendment.

ACTION: Contact your U.S. Representative by e-mail, phone, or FAX letter:

• Call and contact the President/White House switchboard: 202-456-1111.
• Call and contact your Senators:
• John McCain – Prescott: (928) 445-0833, Washington DC (202) 224-2235; Web Contact
• Jon Kyl – Phoenix (602) 840-1891, Washington DC (202) 224-4521; Web Contact
• Call and contact your Congressmen:
• Paul Gosar – Prescott: (928)445-1683; Web Contact
• Call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at: 202-224-3121, or call your Members’ local offices.
• Additional contact info can be found on Members’ web sites at: www.house.gov and www.senate.gov.

HT: American Orthodox Institute

Source: Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in North and Central America

What does it mean to repent? When our Lord Jesus Christ began His public preaching,he began with the word ‘repent.’

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17)

If we are to repent, then we need to know our sinfulness. That’s a tall order, frankly. As St. John put it,

“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8)

This is basic Christianity 101. We are sinners. Christ tells us to repent. This is why the Church has always offered confession of sins prior to receiving the Holy Eucharist, for as St. Paul says,

Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup…That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. (1 Cor. 11:27-28, 30)

The following examination of conscience is also available in print form in the narthex of the Church.

Preparation for Confession

During Great Lent, and the other fasts of the Church Year, it is customary for all Orthodox Christians to go to confession to their priest. Properly this should be done several times a year, the exact frequency depending upon how often one is blessed to receive the Holy Mysteries and on the counsel and blessing of one’s spiritual father.

As a preparation for this sacramental confession and to help one examine one’s conscience before coming to confession, the following  questions are sometimes distributed in parishes and, although of course the list is not exhaustive, it may be a help to those of our readers who are Orthodox Christians.

Sins Against God

Do you pray to God in the morning and evening, before and after meals?

During prayer have you allowed your thoughts to wander?

Have you rushed or garbled your prayers? or when reading in church?

Do you read the Scriptures daily?

Do you read other spiritual writings regularly?

Have you read books whose content is not Orthodox or even anti-Orthodox, or which you know is spiritually damaging?

Have you pronounced the name of God without reverence, joking?

Have you asked God’s help before starting every activity?

Have you made the sign of the Cross carelessly, thoughtlessly?

Have you cursed?

Have you murmured against God?

Have you sinned by forgetting God?

Have you been slack in attending worship?

Have you consecrated even part of the feast days, particularly Sundays and the Twelve Great Feasts, to God?

Have you tried your best to attend church on these days?

Have you spent them more sinfully than ordinary days?

If unable to attend church for some reason, have you nonetheless tried to devote some part of these days to prayer and spiritual reading?

Have you joined with people not of the Faith in prayer, or attended their worship services?

Have you kept the fasts?

Have you behaved irreverently in church, or before the clergy?

Have you laughed or talked in church, or moved about unnecessarily, thus also distracting other people from prayer?

Have dressed appropriately, modestly and in a becoming manner when in church?

Have you tried to pay reverent attention to the readings, hymns, and prayers in church?

Have you striven to pray with the service, crossing yourself, etc.

Have you rather simply stood and day-dreamed?

Have you prepared for the services beforehand, looking up the Scriptural readings, making sure you have the texts to follow the service etc.

Have you ever left church after the Divine Services, and particularly after receiving the Holy Mysteries and immediately engaged in light talk and thus forgotten the blessings and graces you have received?

Have you been ashamed of your Faith or the sign of the Cross in the presence of others?

Have you made a show of your piety?

Have you used your Orthodox Faith or its teachings merely to browbeat others or belittle them?

Have you used it as a shield or excuse for your own inadequacies rather than humbling yourself?

Have you believed in dreams, fortune telling,   astrology, signs and other superstitions?

Do you give thanks to the Lord for all things?

Have you ever doubted God’s providence concerning yourself?

Do you at least try to perceive His purpose in all the things that come upon you?

Sins Against Your Neighbors

Do you respect and obey your parents?

Have you offended them by rudeness or contradiction?

Have you properly shown respect and obedience to your priest? Teachers? Superiors?

Have you insulted anyone?

Have you quarreled or fought with anyone? Have you hit anyone?

Are you always respectful to old people?

Are you ever angry, bad tempered or irritable?

Have you called anyone names?

Do you use foul language?

Have you derided anyone that is disabled, poor, old or in some way disadvantaged?

Have you entertained bad feelings, ill will or hatred against anyone?

Have you forgiven those who have offended you?

Have you asked forgiveness from those whom you have offended?

Have you refused to forgive anyone who has hurt you?

Are you at peace with everyone?

Have you left the needy without help when you could have helped?

Have you attended the sick or elderly when they have asked you to do so?

Have you shown kindness and attention to all, remembering that God is expecting just such an attitude from you?

Have you hit animals without a cause or been cruel to them, or neglectful of those in your care?

Have you stolen anything?

Have you taken or used other people’s things without asking?

Have you kept money or things that were lent you without returning them?

Have you wasted your employers’ time or resources?

Have you taken things from work for your own use, used the firm’s phone or other facilities for your own purposes without permission or repayment?

Are you obstinate, and do you always try to have your own way?

Have you been inconsiderate of other people’s feelings?

Have you tried to have your revenge against those who have offended you?

Have you harbored resentment?

Have you deceived anyone?

Have you gossiped?

Have you told untruths?

Have you judged and condemned others?

Have you taken pains before approaching for confession to be reconciled with all?

Sins Against Yourself

Have you been proud?

Do you boast of your abilities, achievements, family, connections or riches?

Do you consider yourself worthy before God?

Are you vain, ambitious? Do you try to win praise and glory?

Do you bear it easily when you are blamed, scolded or treated unjustly?

Do you think too much about your looks, outward appearance and the impression you make?

Have you sinned in thought, word or deed, by a look or glance, or in any other way against the seventh commandment?

The seventh commandment includes the sins of adultery, fornication (sex outside of marriage),  masturbation, engaging in unnatural sexual acts, sexual fantasy, pornography, etc.

Have you envied anyone over anything?

Have you been over-sensitive?

Have you been lazy?

Have you done your duties heartily?

Have you wasted your time, energy or abilities in things that do not profit the soul?

Have you become obsessive about anything?

Have you been despondent or listless?

Have you had thoughts of committing suicide?

Have you brought a curse on yourself or others or ill-wished them, being impatient?

Have you a weakness for alcohol?

Have you drunk too much, or become dependent on drink?

Have you taken drugs, other than necessary medicines? Have you smoked?

Have you watched television too much or  indiscriminately?

Have you given yourself up to any other similar pastime which wastes your time and energy and might have harmed you?

Have you been greedy, either with regard to food or to possessions?

Have you indulged in comfort-eating? (for example – have you become accustomed to eating between meals?)

Have you been picky about your food, or wasteful of foods, forgetting that so many people are without proper nourishment?

Have you been extravagant?

Have you been wasteful?

Do you care for and seek first the salvation of your soul, the spiritual life and the kingdom of God, or have you put earthly considerations in the first place?

Is there any other sin, which burdens your conscience, or which you are ashamed to tell?

+ + +

Anyone preparing for confession must ask God to help his resolve to tell all his sins. A penitent should prepare for confession and collect his thoughts regarding his sins at least a day before confession. The most valuable thing in the eyes of God is the confession of the sin which weighs most on the conscience. The questions listed are intended to help the  Orthodox Christian examine himself and identify the symptoms of his spiritual ills; they should not be taken as some kind of test to ascertain how well we are doing as if there was a certain “pass-mark.”

Before God’s perfections, we shall always fail. It is for that reason that, as believing Christians, we throw ourselves on the mercy of the Lord and do not trust in our own righteousness.

Remember that our sins can never outweigh God’s love towards us.

Even if we should seem to have failed with regard to all the points mentioned above and more, we should not lose heart but confess our sins without shame, we should regret the wrongs we have done, be resolved to make amends, and receive whatever remedy our confessor should be guided to lay upon us.

Most of all, one should be assured of the blessing of God which these endeavors will bring upon you.

Remember

He Loves You!

Metropolitan Jonah, primate of the Orthodox Church in America, together with Their Graces, Bishops Tikhon of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania, Melchisedek of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania, Michael of New York and New Jersey, and Matthias of Chicago and the Midwest led hundreds of Orthodox Christian clergy, faithful, and seminarians at the 39th annual March for Life here Monday, January 23, 2012. According to Archpriest John Kowalczyk, a pro-life activist and co-founder of the Orthodox presence at the annual gathering,

“this was the biggest Orthodox participation ever in the history of the March.”

Metropolitan Jonah spoke at the pre-March program and offered prayers for the opening invocation. At the conclusion of every petition, thousands responded with a heartfelt and enthusiastic “Lord, have mercy!”  Marchers then proceeded up Constitution Avenue to the US Supreme Court, where a Memorial was celebrated for the victims of abortion.

The March was broadcast live on the Eternal Word Television Network [EWTN], which will rebroadcast its extensive coverage at 2:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, January 28.  Check local listings for possible variations.

A photo gallery of the March for Life can be viewed here.

A video taken at the March for Life can be viewed here.

The text of Metropolitan Jonah’s prayer reads as follows:

Holy Father, our Creator, Savior, Redeemer and our God, Light and Life of the World, Who didst show Thine infinite love for mankind by sending Thine Only-begotten Son into the world to take our flesh and be born as an infant of the Blessed Virgin Mary, becoming all that we are in order to liken us to Himself; Who, through Thy servant Moses didst set before thy people two ways: the way of life and the way of death, and didst not only call us to life, but freely gavest it to us; Who, speaking to Thy servant the Prophet Jeremiah, dost remind us that Thou knowest each of us even from our mother’s womb; Who Himself was born in poverty and laid in manger, taking the form of a servant; Who didst hear the lament of Rachel weeping for her children, for they were no more; Who didst proclaim to Thy disciples that unless one receives Thy Kingdom like a child, one cannot enter it.

Visit us on this solemn day, a day on which we beg thine infinite mercy for the atrocities we allow in the killing of children in the womb; a day on which we gather to bear witness to the Sanctity of all human life from cradle to grave; a day on which we bear witness together to the value of each human person; a day on which we offer to Thee for Thy blessing, and to the world as a sign, our witness to Thine infinite goodness and charity, even to us who daily neglect the life which Thou dost give us, even unto killing and death.

Remember not our negligence and sin. Remember not our failure to be doers of the word and not hearers only. Remember not our hypocrisy, external zeal matched only with practical inaction to assist those who fall prey to the despair and hopelessness of abortion.

Accept, O Lord, the repentance of us who have sinned, and heal our souls. Accept, O Lord, the grief of mothers who have aborted their children as a cry of repentance. Accept, O Lord, the bitter sorrow of regret as the broken heart thou dost not despise.

We offer this sign of our visible unity, standing together in unity of mind, with a contrite heart and broken spirit. We offer our repentance, however we have sinned, for all have sinned and fall short, and thus none of us can judge or condemn. We offer our compassion for those in grief, in guilt and despair.

We pray that Thou will receive us as Thou didst the prodigal, with open arms of forgiveness; and the woman who had sinned, whom Thou didst not condemn.

We beseech Thee, O Lord, to enlighten those lost in the darkness of insensitivity. Transform the minds and hearts of those hardened in bitterness. Give hope, O Lord, to those immersed in despair. As Thou art Good and the only lover of mankind, visit us with Thine infinite compassion. Create in each of us, and in our nation, a new heart, taking not Thy Holy Spirit from us, and restore unto us the joy of life and of Thy salvation. Cleanse and redeem us by Thy precious Blood, shed for the life of the world. Caste us not off, neither turn Thy face away from us, but receive us in repentance according to Thy mercy, for we earnestly repent and with the necks of our souls bowed, we turn ourselves to Thee!

For Thou art the Giver of Life and the Savior of our souls, and unto Thee we ascribe glory, to the Father Who is without beginning, Thine Only-begotten Son, and Thy most holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, always, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

From AOI – The American Orthodox Institute.

From The Orthodox Life blog.  I like this article because it shows precisely why we Orthodox Christians do everything we do: it’s Biblical!

“Let my prayer arise … as incense” (Psalm 141:2)

Throughout Scripture we see the inward and outward aspects of worship offered to God in unity with one another. For example, Scripture tells us to lift our hands and our hearts to God. The hands are outward, and the heart is inward. God is glorified by both, and He commands us to worship Him with both.

We rightfully advocate both the lifting of our hearts and the lifting of our hands to God. They are complimentary to one another. Incense and prayer work the same way. They are two halves to the same coin:

“Let my prayer arise in Thy sight as incense. And let the lifting up of my hands be an evening sacrifice.

(Psalm 141:2)

In the New Testament, Jesus teaches us to pray the Lord’s Prayer. In that prayer, we pray,

“Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

God wants to be worshiped on earth in the same way He is worshiped in heaven. Heavenly worship includes incense, in both the Old Testament (Isa. 6) and the New Testament (Rev. 8). If heavenly worship includes liturgy, robes, and incense, then our earthly worship should include the same.

Scripture is literally filled with references to incense for the worship of God. For example:

• Exodus 25, 30, 31, 35, 37, 39, 40
• Leviticus 4, 16
• Numbers 4, 7, 16
• Deuteronomy 33
• 1 Samuel 2
• 1 Chronicles 6, 9, 23
• 2 Chronicles 2, 13, 26, 29
• Psalm 141
• Isaiah 60
• Jeremiah 17, 41
• Malachi 1
• Luke 1
• Revelation 5, 8

By considering all of these passages, we should be able to discern the usage of incense which would please God in the context of worship.

One of my favorite incense passages is Malachi 1:11. He prophecies of the New Testament Church age, during which time God expands His blessings to the Gentiles in the world at large:

“For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles; In every place incense shall be offered to My name, And a pure offering; For My name shall be great among the nations,” Says the LORD of hosts.

And here is a helpful passage from the New Testament:

And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand.

(Revelation 8:2-4)

According to the New Testament, our prayers actually ascend to God with the smoke of incense.

Pretty cool, huh?

Source

by Archimandrite Job (Getcha)

Evangelisation is the proclamation of the good news of salvation. It is not merely teaching a system of beliefs or transmitting a moral code. In this article Professor Archimandrite Job Getcha highlights the connection between evangelisation and our encounter with the living God in the Orthodox Liturgy.

Introduction

Evangelisation is the proclamation of the good news of salvation. It is not merely teaching a system of beliefs or transmitting a moral code. Therefore, evangelisation should always be linked with a personal experience, and an encounter with the living God, and not only with a pedagogical method. For the Orthodox Church, mission and evangelisation have always been linked with the liturgical experience. Worship has always been the starting point of mission and the heart of evangelisation.

If we look in history, we can find several illustrations of this. One can recall the story of Cyril and Methodius. In the 9th century, when Rastislav, the chief of the people of Moravia, became irritated by the attitude of the Franc missionaries who were using Latin in the evangelisation process of his people, he asked the Byzantine emperor Michael III to send him missionaries who would know the Slavic language. Then the two learned brothers of Thessalonica, Cyril and Methodius, were sent to Moravia, and started their missionary work by translating the liturgical lectionary into the Slavic language as well as the liturgical books. It is said that Cyril translated the text of the four gospels to be read at worship, as well as the texts of the various liturgical services: matins, hours, vespers, compline and the Divine Liturgy. This is an important detail: the two famous missionaries did not start their evangelisation mission by translating a catechism, neither a handbook of doctrine, nor a compilation of sermons, but by bringing the liturgical texts to the language of the local people so that their mission could be done by the means of the liturgy.

Another great example is the conversion of Kievan Rus’ around 988. In the famous Russian Primary Chronicle, it is said that the decisive point in the Christianisation of the Russian people was the experience of Prince Vladimir’s legates attending worship at Saint Sophia Cathedral in Constantinople: “We knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth, for surely there is no such splendour or beauty anywhere on earth. We cannot describe it to you: only this we know, that God dwells there among humans, and that their service surpasses the worship of all other places. For we cannot forget that beauty”.

Indeed, this beauty, which is transmitted through the liturgical worship, is perceived in the Orthodox Church as an epiphany of Heaven on earth, as a way of uniting to the heavenly beauty, a bridge between the Kingdom of God and this world, a connecting point between time and eternity. Through worship, the Christian message does not remain merely a dead letter but becomes a living spirit, which vivifies and deifies.

This story shows us that one cannot reduce Christianity to a series of moral rules, neither to a philosophical or doctrinal system. Christianity is a way of life, where doctrine is inseparable from the glorification of God. According to Georges Florovsky, “Christianity is a liturgical religion. The Church is first of all a worshipping community. Worship comes first, doctrine and discipline second”[1]. Through worship, the true glorification becomes the expression of the true doctrine: “lex orandi” becomes “lex credendi”, since worship is the bearer and transmitter of faith. This is an important fact that one should have always in mind when addressing the question of Christian evangelisation and mission in today’s world.

Recalling his encounter with the Orthodox Church when he was a young student, Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia writes:

“As I entered St. Philip’s – for that was the name of the [Russian Orthodox] church – at first I thought that it was entirely empty. Outside in the street there had been brilliant sunshine, but inside it was cool, cavernous and dark. As my eyes grew accustomed to the gloom, the first thing that caught my attention was an absence. There were no pews, no chairs in neat rows; in front of me stretched a wide and vacant expanse of polished floor. Then I realized that the church was not altogether empty. Scattered in the nave and aisles there were a few worshipers, most of them elderly. Along the walls there were icons, with flickering lamps in front of them, and at the east end there were burning candles in front of the icon screen. Somewhere out of sight a choir was singing. After a while a deacon came out from the sanctuary and went round the church censing the icons and the people, and I noticed that his brocade vestment was old and slightly torn. My initial impression of an absence was now replaced, with a sudden rush, by an overwhelming sense of presence. I felt that the church, so far from being empty, was full – full of countless unseen worshipers, surrounding me on every side. Intuitively I realized that we, the visible congregation, were part of a much larger whole, and that as we prayed we were being taken into an action far greater than ourselves, into an undivided, all-embracing celebration that united time and eternity, things below and things above”[2].

Even today, in Africa, within the very active mission of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, worship remains the essential and privileged means for evangelisation. When the chief of a tribe comes to see a bishop or a priest, asking for evangelisation, the first thing that the missionary bishop or priest usually does is to go and celebrate worship outside in the fields. The chief would gather his tribe that would attend the worship and listen to the predication, and usually, this experience would lead them to accept the Christian faith and be baptised. For the African people are very sensible to the fact that faith in God should be essentially expressed through a way of life and not merely in a written book.

Holy Scripture as a Liturgical Element

These examples may sound strange to us who very often associate evangelisation with a distribution of Bibles or other printed material free of charge, with missionaries who knock at the door of houses, or with some educational and training process. If this is the case, it is because we often have the perception of Christianity as a “religion of the book”, forgetting that the starting point of the Christian faith is not a book, but an event: the paschal mystery of Christ. As J. Behr points out in his book, The Mystery of Christ,

“it is a stubborn fact that for almost two centuries after Christ there was no such a thing as a book called ‘The New Testament’. Nor, for that matter, was the picture or pictures it presents the only version asserted: there were many other ways of explaining the work of God in Christ; many others claiming to be speaking on the authority of the Spirit or to be representing the true tradition…”[3]

Indeed, the Bible that we know and read today did not fall one day upon men from Heaven. It is certainly an inspired book, or rather inspired books, but they were all written by men belonging to God’s people and for God’s people. The New Testament books were all written within the Church and for the Church, and at the time of their composition, the Church was certainly not perceived as an international institution but rather as a gathering, an assembly (ekklêsia) of the believers around Christ. The Gospels or the epistles were to be read during these gatherings, when the people of God was gathered “to break the bread”, that is for liturgy. In fact, contemporary exegetes have pointed out that several passages from the epistles of Paul were in fact liturgical hymns.

We have to remember that before the arrival of printing, individual Christians did not have access to the biblical text, which was transmitted through expensive manuscripts that were the property of a particular community. Therefore, the reading of the Scriptures and its commentary were done during worship. Tertullian makes a testimony of this in his Apologeticum:

“I will now at once proclaim the actual occupations of the Christian association, in order that I who rejected the idea that they were evil may show that they are good. We are a corporation with a common knowledge of religion, a common rule of life, and an union of hope. We come together for meeting and assembly, in order that having formed a band as it were to come before God we may encompass him with prayers. This violence is pleasing to God. We pray also for the emperors, for their ministers and those in authority, for the state of the world, for general quiet, for the postponement of the end. We meet to call one another to remembrance of the Scripture, if the aspect of affairs requires us either to be forewarned or to be reminded of anything. In any case we feed our belief on holy words, we raise our hope, we strengthen our confidence, we clinch the teaching none the less by driving home precepts. There too are pronounced exhortations, corrections and godly judgments”[4].

Until today, the liturgical tradition of the Orthodox Church, through its lectionary, makes sure that the most essential biblical texts are read during the church liturgical year. Almost all the New Testament, with the exception of the book of Revelation, is to be read in one year at the Divine Liturgy. According to the Typikon (Ordo) of Saint Sabas, the four gospels have to be read at the hours during the three first days of Great Week. Most important passages from the Old Testament, relevant to salvation history, are read throughout the year at vespers, on the eve of major feast days, and daily during the Great Lent. The whole Psalter is read once entirely every week at matins and vespers, and it is read twice a week during Great Lent. We have also to have in mind that the psalms, which were not only the prayers of the Jewish people but of the first Christians as well, together with the biblical canticles, constitute the permanent structure of the different liturgical services of the Orthodox Church. Therefore, one can say that the language of the liturgy is a biblical language. For instance, it has been calculated that the text of the Divine Liturgy contains 98 quotations from the Old Testament and 114 from the New Testament[5].

The Word of God ought not only to be read and studied; it has to be heard, meditated and put into practice. Therefore, having in mind that the Holy Scripture was written initially in a liturgical context, and let us say, for the liturgy, the proper place for its proclamation and interpretation should remain within the liturgy, without of course excluding other ways and places for its reading and commentary. In fact, predication, which is intimately linked with the proclamation of the Word of God, remains a constitutive liturgical element.

Didactic Aspect of Worship

The aim of worship is not only the glorification of God, but also the edification of the people of God. As Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia has pointed out in his famous book The Orthodox Church,

“Certain doctrines, never formally defined, are yet held by the Church with an unmistakable inner conviction, an unruffled unanimity, which is just as binding as an explicit formulation. ‘Some things we have from written teaching’ said St. Basil, ‘others we have received from the Apostolic Tradition handed down to us in a mystery; and both these things have the same force for piety’. This inner Tradition ‘handed down to us in a mystery’ is preserved above all in the Church’s worship”[6].

In fact, Saint Basil himself used the liturgical texts in his theological disputes: taking the defence of the divinity of the Holy Spirit against the Pneumatomacs on the eve of the Second Ecumenical Council in 381, he made use of the very ancient Christian hymn, O Gentle Light (Fôs ‘ilaron) which is still sung today daily at Orthodox vespers:

“It seemed fitting to our fathers not to receive the gift of the light at eventide in silence, but, on its appearing, immediately to give thanks. Who was the author of these words of thanksgiving at the lighting of the lamps (tês epiluchniou eucharistias), we are not able to say. The people, however, utter the ancient form, and no one has ever reckoned guilty of impiety those who say ‘We praise Father, Son, and God’s Holy Spirit’ (ainoumen Patera, kai ‘Uion, kai Pneuma Theou)”[7].

If God’s revelation is being preserved in the liturgy, this comes from the fact that worship is first of all an interpreter of the Holy Scriptures. Through its prayers and hymnology, worship makes a commentary of the biblical text, adopting a pluralistic interpretation. Each biblical passage is not to being interpreted not only in one particular manner, let us say historical, spiritual or moral, but can be interpreted in each of these ways. Using typology, which brings the Old and the New Testaments together, worship looks at the Old Testament stories with the lenses of the New, in the light of the paschal mystery, in which everything is recapitulated by Christ and in Christ.

But the typological reading of the biblical text used by the liturgical interpretation does not only unite major figures of the Old Testament with Christ in a relation of type and antitype; they also unite any biblical figure – such as those of the parables – with each one of us who participates in the liturgical worship of the Church.

Hymnology reads the Scriptures in a spiritual way, and therefore, following the path of Saint Paul and of the Church Fathers, biblical history becomes our personal history; salvation history becomes indeed the story of our own salvation. Through this typological link, one can say indeed that biblical history recapitulates the history of each human being. The Bible is not a dead book, but a living one, which speaks to each one of us today.

As in the patristic homilies, hymnology proclaims at each liturgical celebration the actuality of salvation. Worship celebrates the eternal “present”, the eternal “now” of the Divine economy. Thus Byzantine hymnography proclaims on Christmas day:

“Heaven and earth have been made one today, now that Christ is born. Today God has come upon earth, and humanity gone up to heaven. Today for humankind the One who by nature is unseen is seen. Therefore let us too give glory as we cry to him, ‘Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth, with which your Coming has rewarded us. Our Saviour, glory to you!’”[8].

And at Easter:

“Now all things have been filled with light, both heaven and earth and those beneath the earth; so let all creation sing Christ’s rising, by which it is established. Yesterday I was buried with you O Christ, today I rise with you as you arise. Yesterday I was crucified with you; glorify me with you, Saviour, in your Kingdom”[9].

Father Kiprian Kern emphasised this didactic and pedagogical aspects of worship in the Orthodox Church, which ought to be taken into consideration when speaking on mission and evangelisation. He often stated that the theological and religious education in Byzantium or in Ancient Russia was done through liturgy:

“There were no seminaries, no academies, neither theological faculties, but the God loving monks and pious Christians were drinking the living water of God’s knowledge from the stichira, canons, kathismata, prologues and synaxaria. The church’s choir and ambo replaced at that time the professor’s chair”[10].

But unfortunately, often this rich liturgical treasure of the Orthodox Church becomes a kind of best-kept secret even for the Orthodox faithful. One can ask the question why Orthodox Christians often do not take advantage of this heritage? Reflecting on this question could be in fact useful when considering the issue of mission and evangelisation. Father Kiprian Kern was already pointing out at the beginning of the 20th century that this hymnological richness is often inaccessible for the modern man who does not understand it for different reasons. One reason might be the usage of an ancient liturgical language, such as classical Greek or Church Slavonic, which are not accessible to everybody. But the reason could be also a question of a different culture. Father Kiprian was pointing out that the people who were raised in the realism of the 19th century had often a difficulty to understand the profound meaning and beauty of the hymnological poetry as they could not perceive the sense of Byzantine iconography. And from there his conclusion:

“Having come back to the church, we do not understand what is being sung. It has to be explained, it needs a commentary”[11].

This is even more true in our epoch, when the younger generations have not received a Christian education in their childhood. But this problem could become an opportunity: the “incomprehensible” liturgical texts, the beauty of singing of the endless Orthodox services, the fascinating Byzantine icons could become a starting point for evangelisation. I remember a schoolteacher telling me the success he had with his pupils when explaining the mystery of the Trinity by bringing a copy of Rublev’s icon of the Trinity to the classroom. John of Damascus had already pointed this out when saying:

“What the book is to the literate, the image is to the illiterate”.

Therefore, mission and evangelisation should make use of this liturgical material, and thus, the explanation of an icon, the commentary of a liturgical hymn or of a service could be the occasion of entering into the mystery of salvation.

The Sacramental Dimension of Christian life

As we said at the beginning of our paper, the aim of mission and evangelisation is not merely to hand out a system of doctrine or moral values. Therefore, the aim of mission and evangelisation is neither to bring people into an organisation, although this organisation should be called the Church. The Church is not merely an institution, but the living body of Christ. Therefore, the aim of mission and evangelisation should be helping people to encounter the Living, the Risen Christ. And here again, the liturgy could be a decisive element.

As Father Alexander Schmemann once wrote: “The Church, the sacrament of Christ, is not a ‘religious’ society of converts, an organisation to satisfy the ‘religious’ needs of man. It is the new life and redeems therefore the whole life, the total being of man”[12]. Being the Body of Christ, the Church is not merely the Kingdom, which is to come, but the Kingdom, which is already present… The purpose of mission of evangelisation, as the aim of the Church, is to proclaim and offer the new life in Christ.

On this topic, I will refer here to the famous conversion of a French atheist called André Frossard to Christianity, which he recalls in his book entitled: God exists, I have met Him (Dieu existe, je L’ai recontré). His testimony could be easily compared to the one of Prince Vladimir’s legates or the one of the young Timothy Ware:

“Having entered a chapel in the Latin Quarter of Paris at 5:10 in the afternoon to look for a friend, I left at a quarter after 5 in the company of a friendship that was not of this earth. Having entered as a sceptic and an atheist…and ever more sceptical and atheistic, indifferent and preoccupied with so many things other than a God to Whom I never even gave a thought even to deny… […] I was twenty years old when I entered. When I left, I was a child ready for baptism, who was looking around him, with his eyes open, this inhabited sky…”[13].

Frossard’s testimony summarizes admirably what the Church is all about, what mission and evangelisation is aimed at. The Church’s raison d’être is to provide salvation through the celebration of its sacrament, of its mysteries as we say in the Christian East. Some time ago, Metropolitan Emilianos Timiadis said:

“The chief aim of Christ’s Incarnation was to enable man to participate in all possible divine blessings and to make him a partner and co-heir of God’s kingdom”[14]

While saying this, he was very close to the thought of the 15th century great Byzantine liturgist, Symeon of Thessalonica, who says in his treatise on priesthood that as the Incarnation was necessary for the salvation of mankind, so priesthood is indispensable, since it perpetuates and actualises the work of Christ, who could not remain eternally on earth to work out man’s regeneration[15].

In this sense, the celebration of the sacraments and liturgical services should be aimed at the edification of what Nicolas Cabasilas called “Life in Christ”. Speaking about it, Cabasilas says:

“The life in Christ originates in this life and arises from it. It is perfected, however, in the life to come, when we shall have reached that last day. It cannot attain perfection in men’s souls in this life, nor even in that which is to come without already having begun here. […] Baptism confers being and in short, existence according to Christ. It receives us when we are dead and corrupted and first leads us into life. The anointing with chrism perfects him who has received [new] birth by infusing into him the energy that benefits such a life. The Holy Eucharist preserves and continues that life and health, since the Bread of Life enables us to preserve that which has been acquired and to continue in life. […] In this way we live in God. We remove our life from the visible world to the world which is not seen by exchanging, not the place, but the very life itself and mode”[16].

When speaking of the very first sacrament in the Christian life – baptism – which is at the same time closely linked, as we know, with mission and evangelisation, we shall recall that in the Ancient Church this mystery was not only celebrated but also prepared in a liturgical context. Indeed, the period of preparation of the catechumens for baptism coincided with Great Lent, since baptism was most often celebrated on Easter in the Ancient Church, and consisted not of a preparation in a classroom but attending the liturgical services, receiving appropriate exorcisms and hearing the Scriptural readings and the catechetical homilies. The catechetical homilies of Cyril of Jerusalem are a good testimony of this ancient practice, as well as his mystagogical homilies. For the evangelisation of the catechumen did not stop at his baptism, but was continuing after, during eight days, when the neophyte was remaining in the church, in a liturgical setting, and receiving explanations about the sacraments to which he had participated. In fact, the catechetical homilies dealt most often with the mystery of salvation and the basic elements of faith, as the mystagogical homilies were usually commentaries giving explanations of the liturgical and sacramental actions. This point could also be inspiring our mission and evangelisation today.

For the starting point of our mission should always be the liturgy. As Father Alexander Schmemann once wrote:

“Nothing reveals better the relation between the Church as fullness and the Church as mission than the Eucharist, the central act of the Church’s leitourgia, the sacrament of the Church itself. […] The Eucharist begins as an ascension toward the throne of God, toward the Kingdom. […] The Eucharist is always the End, the sacrament of the parousia, and yet it is always the beginning, the starting point: now mission begins”[17].

Indeed, the Church is a gathering: it is the assembly of the people of God, of the body of Christ, around Christ, for the celebration of the Eucharist through which it already partakes of the Kingdom to come. But this reality, this experience, should become the starting point of mission and evangelisation, which is witnessing the Risen Christ, witnessing the new life in Christ in the world, “not seen by exchanging the place, but the very life itself and lifestyle” as Nicolas Cabasilas would say.

Conclusion

The time has come to conclude our paper in which we were asked to reflect on the liturgy as a way of evangelisation. We should perhaps retain three important points.

1. Evangelisation is the proclamation of the good news of salvation and not merely teaching a system of beliefs or transmitting a moral code. Its aim should always be a personal encounter with Christ, and therefore evangelisation should always be linked with a personal experience. We have seen many examples showing that liturgy is the most proper context for this encounter with the living God. Indeed, the beauty transmitted through the liturgical worship is perceived in the Orthodox Church as an epiphany of Heaven on earth, as a way of uniting to the heavenly beauty, a bridge between the Kingdom of God and this world, a connecting point between time and eternity.

2. The role of the liturgy is not only to implore, glorify and thank God, but is also didactic and pedagogical. Indeed, the Tradition of the Church, that is the transmission of God’s Revelation, is being handed on through the Scriptural readings, which are a constituting part of worship, and the different texts of prayers and hymns that could be considered both as a commentary on the Scriptures and as means of transmitting the oral tradition. Therefore, one could easily agree with Fr. Kiprian Kern that the church’s choir and ambo, since many centuries, replace the professor’s chair. Having said this, one can understand that worship should always be the centre and the heart of any missionary enterprise. In order that the liturgy could fulfil its pedagogical role, it is important that the liturgical texts would be comprehensible and accessible to the people. This explains, as we have seen, the preference that was always given by Orthodox missionaries to the use of the vernacular language in the liturgy precisely for that purpose.

3. But understanding the language does not necessarily means understanding the Mystery. It is not sufficient to understand the meaning of the words of what is being sung or read in the worship: one has to be initiated into the Mystery of Christ. The liturgical and sacramental actions have to be explained, need a commentary. Therefore, both liturgy and evangelisation need mystagogy. It is through mystagogy, the explanation of the mysteries, that someone who has encountered the Living Christ and decided to join His Church could grow in the knowledge of God and move on towards His Kingdom, “by exchanging, not the place, but the very life itself and mode” as Nicolas Cabasilas once said.

[1] G. Florovsky, “The Elements of Liturgy in the Orthodox Catholic Church”, One Church 13 (1959), nos. 1-2, p. 24.

[2] Kallistos Ware, The Inner Kingdom, Crestwood, NY, 2000, p. 1-2.

[3] J. Behr, The Mystery of Christ. Life in Death. Crestwood, NY, 2006, p. 45-46.

[4] Tertullian, Apologeticum XXXIX, 1-4 (English translation A. Souter, 1917, p. 112-113).

[5] P. Evdokimov, L’Orthodoxie, Paris, 1965, p. 241, note 96.

[6] Kallistos Ware, The Orthodox Church, London, 1993, p. 204-205.

[7] Saint Basile le Grand, Traité du Saint-Esprit 29, 73 (SC 17, éd. et trad. B. Pruche, Paris, 1945, p. 250). English translation from: Schaff – Wace, (ed.), Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Series II, v. 8, tr. by the Rev. Blomfield Jackson, London 1894.

[8] Menaion, December 25. Second idiomel at the Liti by John the Monk. English translation by Archimandrite Ephrem (Lash).

[9] Pentecostarion, Paschal Matins. Ode 3 of the canon. English translation by Archimandrite Ephrem (Lash).

[10] K. Kern , Kriny molitvennye. Sbornik statej po liturgiheskomu bogosloviœ, Belgrade, 1928, p. II-III [2nd edition : Moscow, 2002, p. 4]. See also: K. Kern , Liturgika. Gimnografiå i qortologiå. Paris, 1964, p. 4 [Moscow, 2000, p. 10].

[11] Ibid., p. III-IV [p. 5-6].

[12] Ibid., p. 216.

[13] A. Frossard, Dieu existe, je L’ai recontré, Paris, 1969, p. 10-11.

[14] E. Timiadis, The Orthodox Understanding of Ministry. Joensuu, 1990, p. 125.

[15] Symeon of Thessalonica, On the Priesthood, PG 960A-D. Cf. our article: J. Getcha, “The treatise on the Priesthood by Symeon of Thessalonica”, Studia Patristica 42 (2006), p. 310-311.

[16] Nicolas Cabasilas, The Life in Christ, Book 1, 1-6. English translation by C. De Catanzaro, Crestwood, NY, 1974, p. 43-50.

[17] A. Schmemann, Church, World, Mission. Crestwood, NY, 1979, p. 214-215.

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Inquirers, those seeking to enter and join the Orthodox faith, or those transferring from other parishes are invited to attend our New Member Class.

For those interested in more, our series of Catechumen Classes follow the New Member Class, and provide a deeper look at the Scriptures, basic Orthodox Christian doctrine and practices, and spiritual life.

The next New Member Class will take place on

Saturday, Feb. 11th at 11 am.

This class is the introductory class for entrance into the Church and contains much information about,

What the Gospel is (and what it isn’t);

• What the Church is;
• Beliefs of Christians;
• Practices of Christians;
• Benefits of Membership;
• Expectations of Membership;

and more!

Join us for this excellent opportunity to meet other Christians, and set your foot on the journey to Christ, and membership in His Holy Body.

Contact Fr. John for more information.

Axios and congratulations to Fr. Thomas and Preotessa Sophia Frisby on the occasion of Fr. Thomas’ ordination to the Holy Priesthood. Fr. Thomas, who was ordained a deacon by His Eminence, Archbishop Nathaniel, on January 1st traveled to Dormition Monastery in Rives Junction, MI for retreat for two weeks. On Sunday, Jan. 15th, at the Descent of the Holy Ghost Romanian Orthodox Church in Merrillville, IN the archbishop once again laid hands upon Fr. Thomas and elevated him to the Holy Priesthood.

Our beloved Fr. Bill Clark, friend and mentor to Fr. Thomas, was present as were a multitude of other clergy, many of whom concelebrated the blessed event. Fr. Thomas is now assigned to Descent of the Holy Ghost parish and will be returning to Arizona some time in the spring to visit us! He was also elevated to the rank of Confessor (a priest who has permission to hear confessions), so you will see him outside the altar being blessed for that.

Axios!

Here are some photos from the big day!

More photos can be seen HERE at the photo album set up by Virgil Aurand!

Glory to God for All Things!

This coming Saturday, we will be hosting one of our LIVING FAITH classes; this time the topic is the Divine Liturgy, the oldest and original form of Christian worship, and a living tradition still utilized by the 300 million Orthodox Christians alive today.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I celebrating the Divine Liturgy in Soumela, Turkey

Composed almost entirely of quotations from the New and Old Testaments, and encompassing the Christian understanding of Creation, Redemption, Incarnation, Gospel, Sacrifice, Resurrection, Ascension and Parousia, this ancient liturgy is alive and vibrant and celebrated almost daily by thousands of clergy on every continent and at the North and South poles. (Even the smallest Orthodox Churches celebrate at least one or two liturgies per week).

This class will be held at 11 am in the upper classroom of St. George Church. There is no charge for this class, though a notebook and pen are recommended.

If you would like more information about this class, contact Fr. John at 777-8750.

What a pleasure and a joy it is to see a family where love and peace prevail between husband and wife, where the husband and wife share each other’s joys and sorrows, thus mutually lightening all life’s difficulties. By contrast, how sad it is for a husband and wife when dissension exists between them – when no tender feelings attract them to each other.

Unfortunately, there are today not a few marriages where, instead of mutual respect and peace between husband and wife, there are quarrels and complaints about each other.

From what does this result? There are certainly many reasons, but the principal one is having chosen the wrong person to marry. Holy Scripture teaches us a beautiful lesson on this subject in the case of our forefather Abraham (Gen. 24). And so, let us Christians recall the marriage of the patriarch Isaac, Abraham’s son.

When Abraham was a hundred and forty years old and his son was forty, Abraham called his faithful servant Eliezer to him and said:

“I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son Isaac of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell: But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.”

The servant swore to him concerning the matter and left without delay for Mesopotamia, where Abraham’s brother Nahor lived. After reaching the city of Harran, Eliezer stopped by a well of water and began to say a prayer in his mind:

“O Lord God of my master Abraham! … Behold, I stand here by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water: And let it come to pass that to whom I shall say, ‘Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink,’ and she shall say, ‘Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also’: let the same be she that Thou hast appointed for Thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that Thou hast shewed kindness unto my master.”

Before he had done speaking, Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Nahor, came to the well. When Eliezer asked her for water to drink, she hastened to give him and the camels water.

And the man bowed down his head, and worshipped the Lord. And he said,

“Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, Who hath not left destitute my master of His mercy and His truth: I being in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master’s brethren.”

When Rebekah’s family learned about Eliezer, why he had come to Mesopotamia, and how the Lord had showed him a wife in Rebekah for his master’s son, they did not begin to contradict him, but gave their full consent to the proposal presented by Abraham’s servant.

They said,

“Behold, Rebekah is before thee. Take her and go, and let her be thy master’s son’s wife, as the Lord hath spoken.”

They called Rebekah, and said to her, “Wilt thou go with this man?” And she said, “I will go.” When the servant returned home, he told Isaac all the things that he had done. And Isaac brought Rebekah into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

Saint Gregory the Theologian refers to Isaac’s marriage with Rebekah as an example of Christian behavior before marriage and says,

“When you mean to take a wife, don’t go running to people, but to God. Tell God, ‘Appoint for me the one whom You have prepared for me in Your Providence.’ Entrust this matter to God, and He will reward you for granting such a great honor to Him.”

And so, in wishing to enter into marriage, one should, above all else, pray diligently to the Lord, Who knows the human heart, that He Himself would arrange the marriage according to His will, pointing out the chosen person and blessing the marriage with His grace.

If Abraham’s servant, acting merely as a middleman, thanked God for finding a bride for the bridegroom, should not the hearts of the bridegroom and bride be filled with far greater thankfulness?

Not only do the bride and bridegroom have to thank the Lord, Who brought them together and decreed them to walk the path of earthly life as one, but also to pray to Him to send down His mercy for their future.

Let them recognize that they cannot build their happiness and a well-ordered marriage only by their own strength, without God’s blessing. Let them together pray to God to bless their union and to send down His grace so that they may live in love, single-mindedness and chastity, fulfilling God’s commandments.

Yet, how many people are there among us who left their marriage to God’s will and, when wishing to enter into marriage, thought first and foremost of receiving God’s blessing for it? Is it not true that all of us are busy primarily with earthly cares and thoughts?

How many men, before choosing a life-long partner, try to become familiar, not with a maiden’s manner and behavior, but with how much property and various possessions she owns, how noble a family she is descended from, and so on.

Young men and women! Remember that a marriage made by mercenary calculations is rarely happy. A marriage that is not concluded for sincerity, mutual trust and the joining of hearts degrades those who enter into it, and consequently it often brings much evil, creating possibilities for family dissension, reproaches and mutual insults.

Saint John Chrysostom told those under his obedience,

“I entreat you not to look for money and riches in a maiden, but for good characteristics: modesty, piety and godliness; these are better than countless treasures. “Let us say someone grew rich by his wife. Isn’t such an example shameful? I hear many people say things such as, ‘I would rather bear extreme poverty than receive riches by  a wife.’”

And indeed, one who chooses a rich wife chooses for himself a master rather than a wife and helper. On the other hand, one who marries someone of equal or lower position acquires a faithful helper for himself.

Poverty disposes a wife to save her husband, to listen to him in everything, to obey him, and to care assiduously about household work. A sensible, good and temperate wife, even if poor, also deals with poverty better than a peevish and evil wife with riches. And so, riches and money are useless if we cannot find goodness in our wives.

Strong mutual love between a husband and wife serves as a further foundation of a happy marriage. The same love must serve as an incentive for the bridegroom and his bride to get married.

Moreover, one must look not at physical beauty, but at the beauty of [the] beloved’s heart.

“Time washes away physical beauty, and sickness eats it up,”

says Saint John Chrysostom,

“but beauty of the heart is beyond all changes. The former arouses anger and produces jealousy, but the latter is not susceptible to similar passions and knows no vainglory.”

Nothing beautifies a person, or gains his or her favor, more than a good heart. Therefore, the Holy Father teaches each of us to try to know the inner appearance when we see someone attractive; and if this is not beautiful, to ignore the attractive looks.

Fathers of families! Imitate the solicitude of the forefather Abraham, who tried to find a godly wife for his son; for he did not seek for riches by her, nor fame of her family, but only nobility of heart.

And you, mothers of families, beautify your daughters not with gold or expensive clothes, but with modesty and meekness. A meek and decorous woman will encourage her husband to be a child-loving father and to take part himself in household work.

Translated by Paula Genis from Semyia Pravoslavnavo Khristianina.

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by St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Although this may seem odd or simplified to unbelievers, St. Nikolai is speaking to believing Orthodox Christians. Unbelievers would not understand anyway.

Although the Holy Fathers praised monasticism as the angelic state, and although many of the greatest saints lived their lives and attained perfection in the deaf and lifeless desert, nevertheless, the Orthodox Church does not recommend tonsuring to all the faithful.

“Neither all those in the desert were saved nor all those in the world were lost,”

said one saint.

To a city dweller who, with no inclination for monasticism, desired to enter the monastery, St. Niphon said:

“My child, a place neither saves nor destroys a man, but deeds save or destroy. For him who does not fulfill all the commandments of the Lord, there is no benefit from a sacred place or from a sacred rank.

King Saul lived in the midst of royal luxury and he perished. King David lived in the same kind of luxury and he received a wreath.

Lot lived among the lawless Sodomites and he was saved. Judas was numbered among the apostles and he went to Hades.

Whoever says that it is impossible to be saved with a wife and children deceives himself. Abraham had a wife and children, three-hundred-eighteen servants and handmaidens, much gold and silver but, nevertheless, he was called the Friend of God.

Oh, how many servants of the Church and lovers of the desert have been saved! How many aristocrats and soldiers! How many artesians and field-workers!

Be pious and be a lover of men and you will be saved!”