Western Orthodoxy

Orthodox Benedictine Monastery Receives Favorable Media Coverage

2009-07-26T05:00:00.000-07:00

I'm very late in posting this, but I'm thrilled to see Christminster Monastery in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, is receiving yet more positive coverage. Reporter Paul Wilson of The Hamilton Spectator recently went inside that holy house and came out with more good news. Below is the article, which appeared in that newspaper on April 3, 2009. It is reprinted here with the author's permission. Christminster is a Benedictine Monastery within the Orthodox Church (ROCOR), which celebrates the Mass of St. Gregory.

Cannon Street's spiritual haven
From coffee shop to reflective monastery
Paul Wilson
The Hamilton Spectator
April 3, 2009
Monasteries are in short supply these days, but three out-of-country monks have now found peace, quiet and prayer nine times a day at a new haven on Cannon Street East.

These monks don't mind if you stop by. Somebody did visit on behalf of an online review site called Mystery Worshippers. The guest complains about "a spate of sirens" during the service. But on comfort, he reports "it was probably the best pew I've ever experienced."

And how did the service make him feel? "Ecstatic and, dare I say, a little envious of Orthodox Christians."

So I'm off to Mass, on that struggling stretch of Cannon, just west of Wentworth, at Steven.

For many years there was a coffee shop here, plus a hairdresser and an auto glass company.

But now the corner has been claimed by the new religious settlement. There's fresh brick on the buildings. The sign by the oak double doors, royal blue and gold, declares this to be Our Lady of Glastonbury Orthodox Church. The sign by the steel door beside it, with the image of a robed monk, says Christminster. That's the monastery.

It's 5 p.m. and a service is under way. There usually is.

There's room here for about 30, but today there are five of us. It is a quiet service. Yes, you can hear the traffic, but somehow it seems a long way away.

The man at the front in the black habit -- with the generous profile of Friar Tuck -- is not in a hurry. There are long, quiet pauses. He sings, chants. And then it is over.

There are individual bedside prayers at 5 each morning. More prayers, held in the church, are at 6:15 a.m., 7 a.m., 8:45 a.m., 9:15 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 5 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 8:15 p.m.

A lot of prayer. "It's a monastery," says Father James Deschene, abbot of Christminster. "That's what we do."

Pray much, talk little. There is the Great Silence, which begins after the 8:15 evening service. Meals are consumed in silence, though there may be something on the CD player -- classical music or James Earl Jones reading the New Testament.

"We don't want just idle chatter," Father James says. "We feed the mind." Yet he is a man of considerable humour and, when it's OK to do so, quite the talker.

He is 66, grew up in Rhode Island, went to a Roman Catholic seminary for four years.

But later he saw the light. "I explored, and Orthodoxy won. I found truth, the real and original church as it was meant to be, no fiddling with the teachings."

The church has small monasteries in Florida and Tasmania. And there was one in Providence, R.I., just Father James and Father Joseph in a little house, no room to grow.

Enter a local man of means, Bob Sherwood, who runs an operation called the White Rabbit Treatment Homes, owns property on Cannon and has a passion for Orthodox religion.

He came to know of the cramped conditions in Rhode Island and offered to renovate the property here for the monks. He would charge no rent.

He spent $200,000 fixing the place up, because, he says, "it seemed the right thing to do."

Last spring, Fathers James and Joseph moved in. They were joined by Father Michael, a convert from California.

Father James says there is still much about Hamilton unknown to him, though he has been to the Black Forest, the Royal Botanical Gardens, the Farmers' Market.

He often goes to Fortinos or Food Basics in his habit and black Crocs. The robe doesn't create a stir.

"I imagine you could wear pretty much anything in Hamilton," he says. "That's not true back in Rhode Island."...
The neighbours have not been hostile...The occasional person has come for a retreat of up to a week, discovering life minus the chatter, the iPod, the TV.

"I'm sure most people would think this doesn't make much sense," Father James says. "But God is real. Our lives are being wasted if He's not."

Their lives are not wasted. Their holy lives are examples for us all, and their holy intercessions open the ears of Heaven to our pleas delayed by our coldness of heart.

Please, never cease to pray for us.

This article and the accompanying photographs appear with the author's permission.

Met. JONAH's Speech to the Anglican Church in North America

2009-07-21T05:37:00.000-07:00

Oops; I didn't realize I had not posted this when it first surfaced the week of the speech! Old age is catching up with me...In all, a very well-done and uplifting speech, which does not mention any necessity of adopting Eastern Orthodox liturgical forms.

The viewer may find it interesting that, at 39 minutes into the speech, he is applauded for critiquing the Anglican tradition -- by Anglicans.

(Hat Tip: Byzantine, Texas)

Met. JONAH Renews St. Tikhon's Dialogue with Anglicans

2009-06-24T16:03:00.001-07:00

Met. JONAH presents an icon of St. Tikhon (Bellavin) to the ACNA assembly this morning.

As I noted yesterday, Met. JONAH of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) spoke to the inaugural assembly of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) this morning (10:30 CDT/8:30 PDT). One observer described his speech as nothing less than "a 'barn burner' complete with numerous standing ovations and cries of agreement." He recorded that Met. JONAH:

reopened a dialogue with this Anglican group. With arms open he hopes to pick up where St. Tikhon left off. He gave an historical account of how the Episcopalians forced the dialogue to end by their actions and listed off (in "truth in love" and in a way "sure to offend some of you") about those things that they would have to do to if they wished to share the chalice. Most of you can guess what he listed: removal of the filioque, a rejection of Calvinism, no female ordinations, no gay marriage, and an extensive scholastic discussion about what unites and divides the two groups. In October at Nashotah House the OCA and the ACNA will meet to begin this dialogue. It is being billed as a picking up where the talks broke down and as such Metropolitan Jonah presented an icon of St. Tikhon to Archbishop-elect [Robert] Duncan. (Emphasis added.)

Note: adoption of the Byzantine Rite, the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom/Basil, was not among the conditions.

Met. JONAH intends to take St. Tikhon's move to reunite Anglicans with the Holy Orthodox Church serioulsy. Even the ACNA's press release says, "This significant gesture represents the possibility of full communion being exchanged between the churches." It adds that the metropolitan's message "focused on unity but did not fail to address areas of contrasting beliefs between the two churches. Though united in upholding the authority of the Bible and uniqueness of Jesus Christ, the Orthodox Church and Anglican Church in North America have differing opinions on matters such as the ordination of women and other doctrinal issues. Despite this, the Metropolitan told the audience that 'our arms are open wide.'"

Following his 45-minute speech, Met. JONAH presented the assembly with an icon of St. Tikhon (Bellavin). The conscious invocation of St. Tikhon is most significant. St. Tikhon had been approached by a group of Anglicans while he was bishop of North America, and as ruling prelate asked the mother church in Russia about the possibility of allowing them to use some form of the Book of Common Prayer. Although the Episcopalians withdrew before the Russian church sent observations intended to "serve in the negotiations as materials for the determination in detail of the conditions on which Anglicans disposed to Orthodoxy can be received," St. Tikhon clearly and undeniably acted to bring former Anglicans into a Western Rite within the Orthodox Church while retaining some form of the BCP.

Today, Met. JONAH followed in his foosteps. May he bring about the goal for which St. Tikhon longed.

The Next Western Rite?

2009-06-24T07:30:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting news item: an Orthodox metropolitan has been invited to deliver a keynote address to a group of conservative Anglicans in the formative stages of "a new denomination." News reports described the formation of the Provincial Assembly of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA):

After years of preparation, evangelical, orthodox and traditionalist Anglicans from across North America, many of them recently departed from the Episcopal Church, will meet in Texas this week to formally launch the new denomination. ACNA unites eight Anglican groups under a single Archbishop and positions itself as an alternative to the U.S. Episcopal Church within the global Anglican Communion.

It is fascinating whom they wanted to hear from:

Ecumenical speakers including Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in California and Metropolitan Jonah of the Orthodox Church in America will offer keynote addresses.

In fact, Met. JONAH will speak later today at 10:30 a.m. to noon CDT. It appears you can watch his speech live here.

His Eminence certainly makes an interesting contrast with Rick Warren. (Warren is author of The Purpose Driven Life and a favorite of the ACNA's evangelical members.) Despite boasts of their alleged death, there are yet a number of Anglo-Catholics who rejoice that, in their view, the ACNA constitution affirms "the Seven Ecumenical Councils" and its "Canons recognize that we embrace the faith 'once for all delivered to the saints' of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic church." They may not know they are seeking the Western Rite of the Orthodox Church, but they are.

And Met. JONAH surely knows.

As a former Episcopalian, His Eminence has personal insight into their views. It is also significant that just this April Met. JONAH acknowledged, "It doesn't matter if we Eastern Rite or Western Rite, doesn't matter the language in the service is...we are one indigenous Church." This is in accordance with the views of some Russian New-Martyrs, St. Tikhon (Bellavin), St. Nicholas of Japan, St. Raphael of Brooklyn — and even of the OCA's own founding hierarch.

One can hardly say this meeting will result in new waves of Western Rite Orthodox, though it cannot hurt. As I have noted, Anglicans are largely impervious to moving anywhere, no matter the difficulties, and there are many places easier to enter than Orthodoxy, much less the Western Rite of Orthodoxy.

It is good this meeting of traditionally minded Christians did not go wtihout an Orthodox voice. Perhaps as the speech commends their step of faith away from apostasy, it will show them the limitations of the ACNA: it has essentially restored a slightly more conservative status quo of 1979. In addition to being a big tent church open equally to "Puritans and papists" (to paraphrase Fr. Alban Waggener), fully one-quarter of its dioceses allow women's ordination to the priesthood. The ACNA's Anglo-Catholics write its constitution will not force priestesses upon any diocese, and parishes will retain their property rights...but the fact remains: this is not the faith of their fathers. That can be found only in the Holy Catholic, Apostolic, and Orthodox Church. Lord willing, this will prove a first step to that destination.

The 140th Anniversary of Dr. J.J. Overbeck's Conversion Remembered

2009-06-21T05:11:00.000-07:00

According to the Dean of the ROCOR Cathedral in Chiswick, London, today is the 140th anniversary of the conversion of Dr. J.J. (Julian Joseph) Overbeck, the instigator of the modern Western Rite Orthodox movement. Today, his home church is remembering his historical contributions. Fr. Nicholas Savchenko wrote:

Next Sunday there will be a 140th anniversary of doctor Overback [sic.] conversion to Orthodoxy as it is said in our parish registration book (21 June 1869). I'll be making a speach after Liturgy about him. His book was translated to Russian and Holy Synod and Pobedonostsev supported him. He was a member of our parish untill 1905 when he died and his wife and children were members too.

fr. Nikolay

Incidentally, Pobedonostsev was no small supporter and "had connections," as they say. Overbeck pressed for a Western liturgy that resembled that of the Roman Catholic (and, more to the point, Old Catholic) churches of his day, with only the modifications he deemed necessary to bring that living tradition into line with Orthodox theology and practice -- and his plan received widespread support, including that of multiple patriarchates including (temporarily) the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. Although his attempts to woo the Union of Utrecht failed, the Orthodox Church accepted the concept of a revived Western Rite, specifically one that began by taking the Roman Mass as its starting point.

The idea of Western Orthodoxy did not come to fruition in his lifetime, but it is unlikely it would have come about at all without his actions, all of which began with his conversion to the Orthodox Church 140 years ago today. Our most profound thanks to Fr. Nikolay and the rest for the remembrance. (Hat tip: Hieromonk Michael, for forwarding it.)

Below are links for further reading about Dr. Overbeck:

Dr. J.J. Overbeck and His Scheme for the Reestablishment of the Orthodox Church in the West by David F. Ambramtsov.

Catholic Orthodoxy and Anglo-Catholicism, by J.J. Overbeck (1866)

A Plain View of the Claims of the Orthodox Church as Opposed to All Other Christian Denominations by J.J. Overbeck, D.D. (1881)

Pope Shenouda III on Pentecost

2009-06-07T13:52:00.000-07:00

In honor of the Feast, here is an article on that topic by the Coptic Pope, Shenouda III.

The Feast of Pentecost
by Pope Shenouda III

The Glorified Lord Christ lived with them in His body until He rose to Heaven then promised them the Holy Spirit to stay with them forever, the Spirit of truth, the Comforter. So what should we know about the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit is God’s Spirit, therefore it existed since ever. We read about it in the first verses of the Genesis Book. The divine response says: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” (Gn 1:1, 2).

And Isaiah talks about the Holy Spirit and gives Him names in his saying: “The Spirit of the LORD…The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.” (Is 11:2).

And we add to that in the third Hour Prayer (Terce) of every day and say: “a spirit of prophecy and chastity, a spirit of holiness, justice and authority” and call Him by saying: “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”.

And the Lord says about Him in the St John’s Gospel “the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father” (Jn 15:26). And the doctrine of being proceeded from the Father was mentioned by the Ecumenical Council in Constantinople in the Faith Creed. Yet our brothers, the Catholics add to it “Filioque” meaning “and from the Son”. And this is opposing to the Holy Trinity Doctrine. In assimilating the Holy Trinity to Fire we say: "Fire brings forth heat; and light proceeds from it” and we do not say that the light proceeds from heat! But the light and the heat both come from the origin, which is the fire and not one from the other.

The Holy Spirit used to work in the Old Testament as well.

In the story of Samson we read that “the Spirit of the LORD began to move upon him at Mahaneh Dan” (Judges 13:25). And we also read that after Saul was anointed as king that “the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied” (1 S 10:10). This also happened when David was anointed by Prophet Samuel to be king “the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward” (1 Sam 16:13). And the way the Holy Spirit came upon both Saul and David was through the Anointing Oil that the Lord ordered them to prepare in Exodus Book (Ex 30:22-31). And Aaron was anointed as a high priest when Moses poured from this holy anointing oil on Aaron’s head and anointed him (Lv 8:12), as we say in the psalm “It is like the precious oil upon the head, Running down on the beard, The beard of Aaron, Running down on the edge of his garments.” (Ps 133:2). And with this anointing oil the tent of meeting along with the altars and the utensils were anointed and became holy (Ex 40, Lv 8). With this anointing oil also kings and prophets were anointed (1 Kings 19). And as a result to the anointing, the Holy Spirit comes upon them and so comes His gifts as well.

And we read in prophet Joel the Lord’s saying: “And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions.” (Joel 2:28).

And this is what happened on the fiftieth day (the Day of Pentecost), as St Peter the Apostle explained this verse from Prophet Joel’s Book (Ac 2:16, 17).

The Holy Spirit also could be transferred from one person to another.

This happened to the seventy elders on the days of Prophet Moses when the Lord said to him: “Gather to Me seventy men of the elders of Israel. Then I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit that is upon you and will put the same upon them” (Nm 11:16, 17). And here the bible says: “Then the LORD came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and placed the same upon the seventy elders; and it happened, when the Spirit rested upon them, that they prophesied” (Nm 11:25).

We notice that before Moses, when Joseph the Righteous interpreted the Pharaoh’s dream, “Pharaoh said to his servants, "Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?"” (Gn 41:38). And here was the Holy Spirit’s gift interpreting dreams, i.e., the Spirit of knowledge.

Also there is another work for God’s Spirit in every art, so as to what the tent of meeting needed “Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: "See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanship” (Ex 31:1- 5).

Here we see that the Holy Spirit works even in the talent of workmanship that is given to some even in jewelry and carving woods.

Among the most important characteristics of the Holy Spirit is that it is Who spoke in the prophets.

This is a statement in the content of the Faith Creed. This means that the Holy Spirit is the source of the divine response of the Holy books. the Holy Spirit was the source of all what the prophets and apostles said in the holy books.

In this St Peter the Apostle said in his second epistle “for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” (2 P 1:21).

Nowadays, in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit is given through three ways: The holy anointing, laying priests’ hands and the holy breath.

As for the holy breath, it was written in St John’s Gospel that our Lord Jesus, after His Resurrection, when He appeared to His disciples, the saints, in the upper room, He told them “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you." And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."” (Jn 20:21-23).

In the ordination of the bishop or the priest we breathe in his face and say “Accept the Holy Spirit”, so he opens his mouth to accept the holy breath and says with the psalm “I opened my mouth and accepted myself a spirit”.

As for laying hands, the Holy Spirit in the time of our fathers the apostles was given through the apostles laying hands. This was mentioned in giving the Holy Spirit to the People of Samaria. The Apostles Synod in Jerusalem sent them St Peter and St John “Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit” (Ac 8:14-17). And the same was done to the People of Ephesus “And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them” (Ac 19:7). Same applied to the Priesthood Sacrament, St Paul the Apostle said to his disciple Timothy “I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands” (2 Ti 1:6).

The holy anointing was also known in the apostolic age. St John the Apostle says about that: “But you have an anointing from the Holy One…” (1 Jn 2:20) “… But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you” (1 Jn 2:27).

We, in anointing children after baptism: we anoint them with the Holy Chrism (Myron) and lay hands on them and breathe in their faces. And say to them: “Receive the Holy Spirit”.

With the Holy Anointing Sacrament, we become temples for the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit dwells in us. St Paul the Apostle talks about that in his first epistle to Corinthians and says: “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Co 3:16), and “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you” (1 Co 6:19). Then every one of should remember that on the day he was anointed with the Holy Chrism (Myron) that he became a temple for the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit became dwelling in him.

The Holy Spirit works in priesthood and priesthood is granted through the Holy Spirit. It has the power of forgiving sins. But someone may say: How is that? And no one can forgive sins except God alone! We say: Yes, the Holy Spirit that is in the priest is one who forgives sins. As we say in the Holy Liturgy “be absolved by my mouth through the Holy Spirit,” so it is the Holy Spirit that forgives sins. And this forgiveness comes from the priest’s mouth. And the absolution that the priest gives through the absolution prayer in which he says: may God absolve you, may God pardon you, may God forgive you. And the Holy Spirit is present also in all the Church Sacraments. He also is present in all the Holy Synod decisions. In the first decision that came from the Synod in Jerusalem on the days of our fathers the apostles, they said: “it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us” (Ac 15:28).

The Holy Spirit works in the Service too. The Church fathers, the apostles did not start the service until the Holy Spirit came upon them and the Lord’s promise saying: “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me” (Ac 1:8) was fulfilled in them. The Holy Spirit was the One choosing the servants, like when He said: “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them” (Ac 13:2, 4). And it was Him who directed the servants in their paths and worked in them and using them.

Asking for the Holy Spirit is a point of our daily prayer of the Third Hour (Terce). We ask it to come upon us and purify us from all defilement of body and spirit. And we cry to God saying: Your Holy Spirit, O Lord, do not take away from us.

It is part of our freedom to accept the Holy Spirit, work with Him, and go into the “Holy Spirit Partaking”. And we are also free to reject and quench the Spirit and fight the Spirit. And the most serious thing is to blaspheme against the Holy Spirit, meaning to reject it completely all through the life. But how beautiful is the bible’s saying: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” (Ro 8:14).

Here I would like to warn those who are deceived and think that every spirit that leads them is God’s Spirit!! The apostle says: “do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 Jn 4:1).

Pope St. Gregory the Great on Doubting Thomas

2009-04-26T06:41:00.000-07:00

The following is an excerpt from the homilies of Pope St. Gregory the Great (known in the East as "St. Gregory the Dialogist"). In both East and West, the Sunday after Easter (Pascha) is devoted to "the beautiful unbelief of Thomas," whose doubt stands as a proxy, making our own unnecessary:

Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. He was the only disciple absent; on his return he heard what had happened but refused to believe it. The Lord came a second time; He offered His side for the disbelieving disciple to touch, held out His hands, and showing the scars of His wounds, healed the wound of his disbelief.
Dearly beloved, what do you see in these events? Do you really believe that it was by chance that this chosen disciple was absent, then came and heard, heard and doubted, doubted and touched, touched and believed? It was not by chance but in God’s providence. In a marvelous way God’s mercy arranged that the disbelieving disciple, in touching the wounds of his Master’s body, should heal our wounds of disbelief. The disbelief of Thomas has done more for our faith than the faith of the other disciples. As he touches Christ and is won over to belief, every doubt is cast aside and our faith is strengthened. So the disciple who doubted, then felt Christ’s wounds, becomes a witness to the reality of the resurrection.
Touching Christ, he cried out: My Lord and my God. Jesus said to him: Because you have seen me, Thomas, you have believed. Paul said: Faith is the guarantee of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. It is clear, then, that faith is the proof of what can not be seen. What is seen gives knowledge, not faith. When Thomas saw and touched, why was he told: You have believed because you have seen me? Because what he saw and what he believed were different things. God cannot be seen by mortal man. Thomas saw a human being, whom he acknowledged to be God, and said: My Lord and my God. Seeing, he believed; looking at one who was true man, he cried out that this was God, the God he could not see.
What follows is reason for great joy: Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed. There is here a particular reference to ourselves; we hold in our hearts One we have not seen in the flesh. We are included in these words, but only if we follow up our faith with good works. The true believer practices what he believes. But of those who pay only lip service to faith, Paul has this to say: They profess to know God, but they deny him in their works. Therefore James says: Faith without works is dead.

Let us confirm our faith by stretching forth our hand to aid the needy.

See also: St. Augustine on Doubting Thomas.

(Hat Tip for St. Gregory's excerpt: The Crossroads Initiative)

Holy Saturday

2009-04-18T07:04:00.000-07:00

In honor of Holy Saturday, here is quotation of a quotation of a saint. (I believe that makes this a third-class relic of a quotation.):

Holy Saturday, according to [St.] Epiphanius of Cyprus.

Something strange is happening … there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.

He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: “My Lord be with you all.” Christ answered him: “And with your spirit.” He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying, “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light”....

You can read the rest by clicking here.

(Hat Tip: The Way of the Fathers)

Good Friday, East and West

2009-04-17T05:48:00.000-07:00

Here are my observations from 2007:

In Holy Week, perhaps more than any other time, the unity of the Orthodox Church is manifest. The words, emphases, and actions of both Byzantine and Western Rite Orthodox could not be more clearly of-a-piece. I write in haste (I often do on this blog) and cannot give more than a cursory overview, but consider:

In the Western Rite on Maundy Thursday, the priest consecrates a second Host, to be consumed during the Presanctified Liturgy of Good Friday. He then processes with the presanctified Eucharist from the altar to a side chapel and "buries" It. Upon arriving at the altar, the priest and servers kneel in adoration (as did the people as It passed in procession). In the Byzantine Rite, on the Great Vespers service of Holy Friday ("Good Friday" in the West), the priest removes the icon of Christ affixed to the Crucifix and "buries" it. He and the clergy process around the church with the epitaphios (a cloth with the icon of Christ being prepared for burial), then places it and the Gospel (cross-side up) on a bier. The people often kneel as it passes. Then the clergy and people kneel and venerate the epitaphios and Gospel.

On Good Friday, in the Western Rite of the Orthodox Church, the people pray the Great Intercessions, so reminiscent of the Byzantine litanies. The priest then unveils the Cross, as the people kneel. As the Reproaches (Improperia) are sung, the clergy and people then prostrate and adore the Cross. In the Byzantine Rite, in Orthros of Holy Friday (anticipated on the evening of Holy/Maundy Thursday; this service is also known as the "12 Passion Gospels"), the priest processes with the Cross about the church, as the people kneel. The clergy then prostrate and adore the cross.

The Byzantine Prokeimenon (Tone 4) before the 7th Gospel, during this service celebrated on Maundy Thursday evening, is: "They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture they cast lots." This is the same verse the priest chants in the Western Rite on Maundy Thursday before the stripping of the altar.

Moreover, the content of the Western Rite Reproaches (Improperia) are closely echoed by the words of the Byzantine services for the same liturgical day:

BYZANTINE RITE WESTERN RITE
Today the Jews nail on the Cross Him Who did cleave the sea with a rod, and made them to pass through the wilderness. Today they pierce with a spear the side of Him Who scourged Egypt with curses for their sake; and will give Him bitterness to drink who rained down manna for their nourishment.

(Sixth Antiphon, Orthros of Holy Friday - 12 Passion Gospels.)

Why doth the law-transgressing people of false worship meditate in falsehood? Why was he condemned to death Who is the life of all?
(Stichera Verse, Tone 2, Great Vespers of Holy Friday.) O My people, what have I done to thee? Or wherein have I afflicted thee? Answer Me. Because I led thee out of the land of Egypt, thou hast prepared a Cross for thy Savior.

(Good Friday Reproaches)
Say ye, O transgressors of the law, what heard ye from our Saviour? Is it not that He appointed a law and the teachings of the Prophets? How then did ye think to deliver to Pilate the Word, God of God, and the Deliverer of our souls?

They who benefited always by Thy gifts, O Christ, were crying: Let Him be crucified. And the killers of the Righteous sought to free an evildoer in place of the Benefactor. But Thou wast silent, enduring their arrogance, wishing to suffer and to save us, since Thou art the Lover of mankind. (8th Antiphon, Orthros of Holy Friday.)

In place of the good things that Thou didst for the Hebrew people, O Christ, they condemned Thee to be crucified, giving Thee vinegar and gall to drink. (11th Antiphon, Orthros of Holy Friday.)

Thus saith the Lord to the Jews: My people, what have I done unto Thee, and wherewith have I harmed Thee? Thy blind have I lighted; thy lepers have I cleansed, and the man on his couch have I raised.

O My people, what have I done unto thee, and wherewith hast thou rewarded Me? Instead of manna, gall; and in place of water, vinegar; and instead of loving Me, thou didst nail Me to the Cross. (12th Antiphon, Orthros of Holy Friday.)

My firstborn, Israel, hath done double evil, having forsaken Me, the Fountain of the waters of life, and shaped himself a broken cistern, crucifying Me on a a Tree...thou O Israel did not refrain but delivered Me unto death. O Holy Father, forgive them, for they know not what they have done. (Praises, Tone 3, following 9th Gospel, Orthodos of Holy Friday.)

When Thou wast led to the Cross, O Lord, Thou didst say, "For what act do ye wish, O Jews, to crucify Me? Is it because I have strengthened your cripples? Is it because I raised your dead as from the sleep, healed the woman of her issue of blood, and showed mercy upon the Canaanitish woman? For what act, O ye Jews, desire ye my death?" But ye shall behold Him whom ye pierced, O law-transgressors, and know that He is Christ. (Idiomela Hymns, Tone 5, 3rd Hour of Holy Friday.)

Thus saith the Lord to the Jews: My people, what have I done unto thee; and wherewith have I harmed thee? Thy blind have I lighted; thy lepers have I cleansed, and the man on his couch have I raised. In my food they gave me gall, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. (Idiomela Hymns, Tone 8, 6th Hour of Holy Friday.)

When the lawless nailed Thee upon the Cross, O Lord of glory, Thou didst cry unto them, "Wherein have I caused you sorrow? Wherein have I angered you? And who before Me delivered you from sorrow? And now wherewith do ye reward Me? Instead of goodness, evil; for the pillar of fire, ye nailed Me on the Cross; for the clouds, ye dug Me a grave; instead of water, ye gave Me vinegar to drink. (Idiolmela Hymns, Tone 2, 9th Hour of Holy Friday)

Oh, how the assembly of the law-transgressors condemned to death the King of creation, not being ashamed nor abashed by His benevolences, of which He had assured them formerly, calling them to their remembrance, saying, "My people, what have I done to thee? Have I not showered Judaism with wonders? Have I not raised the dead by only a word? Have I not healed every sickness and every weakness? With what, then, hast thou rewarded Me? And why forgetest thou Me? For healing, thou hast inflicted wounds upon Me; and for raising the dead, thou dost cause Me, the Benevolent, to die suspended upon a Tree as an evil-doer; the Giver of the Law, as a law-transgressor; and the King of all as One Who is condemned." (Stichera Verse, Tone 6, Ibid.) Because I led thee out through the desert forty years: and fed thee with manna, and brought thee into a land exceeding good, thou has prepared a Cross for thy Savior.

What more ought I to have done for thee, that I have not done? I planted thee, indeed, My most beautiful vineyard: and thou has become exceeding bitter to Me: for in My thirst thou gavest Me vinegar to drink; and with a lance thou hast pierced the side of thy Savior.

For thy sake I scourged Egypt with its firstborn: and thou didst deliver Me up to be scourged.

I led thee out of Egypt having drowned Pharaoh in the Red Sea: and thou to the chief priests didst deliver Me.

I opened the sea before thee: and thou with a spear didst open My side.

I went before thee in a pillar of cloud: and thou didst lead Me to the judgment hall of Pilate.

I fed thee with manna in the desert; and thou didst beat Me with blows and scourges.

I gave thee the water of salvation from the rock to drink: and thou didst give Me gall and vinegar.

For thy sake I struck the kings of the Canaanites: and thou didst strike My head with a reed.

I gave thee a royal scepter: and thou didst give My head a crown of thorns.

I exalted thee with great strength: and thou didst hang Me on the gibbet of the Cross.

(Good Friday Reproaches)

UPDATE: How could I forget: After Maundy Thursday, the Western Rite faithful keep vigil before the "tomb" containing the presanctified Eucharist (the "40 Hours Devotion"). On Good Friday, it is traditional for Byzantine Orthodox to keep vigil at the "tomb" of Christ. In both cases, it is to undo the disobedience of the sleep-ridden Apostles and arouse a sense of watchfulness over our souls.

Also, on Good Friday in the West, during the Presanctified Liturgy (the only one of the year in the WR), the people recite the Trisagion...in Greek, no less. -- BJ.

Again, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, "The Eastern and Western Rites are merely different ways of doing the same thing."(TM) Though a certain school of Orthodox obscurantism rejects us, let's all humble ourselves, prostrate before whatever our particular Orthodox rite proffers, and meditate upon the life-giving Death necessitated by our numberless sins and transgressions - the truth so clearly driven home by both rites. And then let us embrace one another as fellow inheritors of that grace-bestowing Life. If we are to, in the words of the Paschal stichera, "call brothers even those that hate us," certainly we should do so for Orthodox brethren worshiping according to approved Rites of our Holy Mother the Church. Especially when we are praying the same things to the same Lord in the same Church.

OCA's Met. JONAH Acknowledges the Western Rite

2009-04-09T12:56:00.001-07:00

Some of you may be following the back-and-forth between the Ecumenical Patriarchate and North American Orthodox hierarchs; a representative of the Phanar invited all churches of the "diaspora" to "submit" to Constantinople, and His Eminence Metropolitan JONAH, Primate of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), responded by citing the role of the Russian Orthodox Church in North American Orthodoxy. Others can focus on the political aspects of this tug-of-war (and have), but we must not pass over another passage of His Eminence's sermon last Sunday. Met. JONAH spoke at St. Seraphim Orthodox Cathedral in Dallas on April 5, 2009, where he said:

We are a single community of Orthodox Christians, and we are the local Church in Dallas, the local Church in Northeast Texas. It doesn't matter that we have all these various administrative jurisdictions, ultimately, because we gather together as one Body, to pray with one mind and one heart, to celebrate the same Eucharist, to come to the same chalice. It doesn't matter if we Eastern Rite or Western Rite, doesn't matter the language in the service is, but...we are one Church. We are one local Church, and I might add, we are one indigenous Church. (Emphasis added.)

That is, Met. JONAH specifically affirmed the authenticity of Western Rite Orthodoxy. More specifically, members of the Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate in northeast Texas were in attendance at this sermon. Thus, the head of the OCA said the Western Rite as presently practiced within the AWRV is Orthodox and a part of the indigenous Orthodox Church in North America.

This is significant, since some in the OCA may be ignorant of or antipathetic toward the Western Rite (and these are hardly mutually exclusive). However, affirming the Western Rite and specifically the approach of the AWRV is in keeping with the views — not only of some Russian New-Martyrs, St. Tikhon (Bellavin), St. Nicholas of Japan, and St. Raphael of Brooklyn — but of the OCA's own founding hierarch. Abp. Platon (Rozhdestvensky), who would go on to found the Metropolia, said to a group of Western Christians in 1911: "When we agree concerning dogmas, there will be no need to speak of rites. They will not prevent us from being one in Christ and having the same belief in Christ."

As I noted when he was ordained, Met. JONAH is a former Episcopalian, and may have some understanding of Western prayer and spirituality. Whatever his personal experience, he has made clear in his remarks that the Western Rite has a future in his vision of a unified Orthodox Church in North America, as it did in the original under the Russian Church. You can hear the whole sermon here:

Pan - Orthodox Sermon by His Beatitude Metropolitan Jonah @ Yahoo! Video

(Hat tip: Dom James for calling attention to the speech, and Rod Dreher for running the full text)

New Western Rite Mission in Maryland: St. John the Baptist

2009-03-26T17:08:00.000-07:00

We told you years ago that more Charismatic Episcopal Churches stood ready to join the Western Rite of the Orthodox Church. Since then, many have followed. The Antiochian Archdiocese has announced that, it's official: within two months of the last group of former CEC becoming Western Rite Orthodox catechumens, another church has joined the fold:

St. John the Baptist Mission began as a small mission in the Charismatic Episcopal Church (called Lamb of God Church) on Christmas Eve, 2005 under the pastoral leadership of Fr. James K. Hamrick, a CEC priest and a former United Methodist pastor. The congregation, made up mostly of former Methodists, found a historic chapel for lease in Lewistown, Maryland, just north of Frederick, Maryland, an hour west of Baltimore and an hour northwest of D.C. The chapel, originally built in 1833 as a Methodist Church, has been home for the congregation since.

In August 2006, Fr. James met Fr. Gregory McGregor, an Orthodox priest in southeastern Virginia, which prompted Fr. James to begin examining the claims of Orthodoxy. Two years later, in the summer of 2008, the congregation's bishop retired, causing the people to search in earnest for where God was leading them next. Fr. James and the people of Lamb of God Church examined a number of continuing Anglican groups, but only with limited enthusiasm. Finally, at a clericus gathering in Towson, Maryland on September 17, 2008, Fr. James heard a compelling presentation given by Fr. Patrick Cardine and Fr. Alban Waggoner on the Orthodox Church. Father James presented the congregation with this invitation to consider the Orthodox Church, and in short order the people began to discern that the Holy Orthodox Church was where God was indeed directing them. At the request of Fr. James, Bishop THOMAS visited the congregation in October 2008 in order to answer questions and to encourage the people as they discerned their call. With strong consensus among the people, Lamb of God Church officially became a catechumenate mission of the Orthodox Church on November 30, 2008, with Fr. Patrick Cardine and Fr. Nicholas Alford as the assigned catechists.

In coming into Holy Orthodoxy, the people requested a new name for their mission to represent a whole new beginning, but since St. John the Baptist had been their patron saint, they requested to bear his name. Metropolitan PHILIP agreed and the new mission became St. John the Baptist. God willing, on April 11th (Lazarus Saturday), nearly 30 people will be chrismated by Fr. Nicholas Alford at St. Gregory the Great Orthodox Church in Washington, DC. (See Update Below!) Saint John the Baptist will become a Western Rite mission, and until Fr. James is ordained a priest in the Orthodox Church, Fr. Peter Jacobsen, a retired Western Rite priest from New York, will be serving the mission

What an inspiring story of faith, with a search for truth lasting many years finally about to be realized.

The season of Lent traditionally has been a time of completing the catechumenate. Lenten fasting had its historic origins in the faithful fasting in solidarity with those about to be illumined, born again, through the Sacrament/Mystery of Baptism. As we are all praying and fasting together, please, as the Byzantine services of this time ask, "Let us the faithful pray for the catechumens." God bless them all, richly rewarding their faithfulness with His mercy.

Update: A reader e-mails that Fr. Nicholas Alford just alerted them of a new location for the chrismation service, to allow more people to attend:

With Metropolitan PHILIP's blessing we are moving the service of Chrismation for the people of St. John the Baptist Mission to Ss. Peter and Paul Orthodox Church, 10620 River Rd, Potomac, MD. The service will be on Friday evening, April 10, beginning with Vespers at 7PM. . . . The Chrismations will follow Vespers and then the Liturgy for the feast of St. Leo will be celebrated.

Thank you. Whatever the proximate location, God will unite all of you to His Mystical Body, the Church. God bless you!

Well, it's Not Quite the "Holy Hand Grenade," But....

2009-03-23T14:53:00.001-07:00

Pastor, Parishoner Arrested for Shooting an Arrow in Church. I guess the pastor of Pentecostals of Sheboygan County (Wisconsin) thought this would be a neat illustration of some sort.

Maybe he was preaching on St. Matthew 18:9?

Altar-ation

2009-03-18T11:59:00.000-07:00

This video, of the FSSP transforming a Novus Ordo altar into a reverent traditional altar, inspired me. To paraphrase a joke about lawyers, it is "a good start." But there is also a parable about our souls during Lent to be found in such renovation. Enjoy.

An Additional Celtic Hymn for St. Patrick's Day

2009-03-17T18:53:00.000-07:00

To honor St. Patrick's Day, here is another Celtic hymn, though not one written by the saint himself. The words are traditionally attributed to Ireland's blind poet-saint, St. Dallan Forgaill (d. 598). A recording is below (which is far from perfect, but the most reverent and least "Christian contemporary" I could find online.)

Be Thou My Vision

Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart,
Be all else but naught to me, save that Thou art;
Be Thou my best thought in the day and the night,
Both waking and sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my wisdom, be Thou my true Word,
Be Thou ever with me, and I with Thee Lord;
Be Thou my great Father, and I Thy true son;
Be Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my breastplate, my sword for the fight;
Be Thou my whole armor, be Thou my true might;
Be Thou my soul's shelter, be Thou my strong tower:
O raise Thou me heavenward, great Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise:
Be Thou mine inheritance now and always;
Be Thou and Thou only the first in my heart;
O Sovereign of Heaven, my treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, Thou Heaven's bright sun,
O grant me its joys after victory is won;
Great Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be Thou my vision, O Ruler of all.

Be Thou My Vision - The Irish Tenors

(The poem contains an interesting, pre-Schism reference to the Heart, as well....)

St. Patrick's Breastplate

2009-03-17T18:19:00.001-07:00

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, here is a hymn traditionally attributed to the Apostle to Ireland himself. The words have been set to music, which is below.

The Breastplate of St. Patrick ("I Bind Unto Myself Today")

I bind unto myself today
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One, and One in Three.

I bind this day to me forever,
By power of faith, Christ's Incarnation;
His baptism in the Jordan River;
His death on Cross for my salvation;
His bursting from the spiced tomb;
His riding up the heavenly way;
His coming at the day of doom:
I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself the power
Of the great love of cherubim;
The sweet "Well done" in judgment hour;
The service of the seraphim;
Confessor's faith, apostles' word,
The patriarchs' prayers, the prophets' scrolls;
All good deeds done unto the Lord,
And purity of virgin souls.

I bind unto myself today
The virtues of the star lit heaven,
The glorious sun's life giving ray,
The whiteness of the moon at even,
The flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling wind's tempestuous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea,
Around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today
The power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay,
His ear to hearken to my need;
The wisdom of my God to teach,
His hand to guide, His shield to ward;
The word of God to give me speech,
His heavenly host to be my guard.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,
The strong Name of the Trinity;
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One, and One in Three.
Of Whom all nature hath creation;
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Praise to the Lord of my salvation,
Salvation is of Christ the Lord. Amen.

Here is a link to the music of this hymn, as well:

Two Milestones in One Day

2009-03-15T07:59:00.000-07:00

St. Aristibulus of the Seventy, Bishop of Britain

Today is not merely the Second Sunday in Lent, but it is also the day our friend Aristibule "Ari" Adams can point to the Byzantine Menologion and say, "See? 'Aristibule' is a saint's name!" (Depending on the Menologion; at least one lists this saint on March 16.)

Happy Name Day to Aristibule!

Holy Apostle Aristobulus of the Seventy, Bishop of Britain

March 15

Reading:
Saint Aristobulus, the brother of Saint Barnabas, was ordained to be bishop in Britain by the Apostle Paul, who mentions him in his epistle to the Romans (16:10). He suffered many afflictions at the hands of the pagans, but also brought many to Christ. Having established the Church there, he finally reposed in peace.
Apolytikion in the Third Tone
O Holy Apostle Aristobulos, intercede with the merciful God that He grant unto our souls forgiveness of offences.

- From the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese website.

A bit fuller life:
The Holy Apostle Aristobulus of the Seventy was born on Cyprus. He was chosen by Christ and sent out to preach (Luke 10:1). He and his brother, the holy Apostle Barnabas of the Seventy, accompanied the holy Apostle Paul on his journeys. Saint Aristobulus is mentioned by the Apostle Paul in the Epistle to the Romans (Romans 16:10).

Saint Paul made Aristobulus a bishop and sent him to preach the Gospel in Britain, where he converted many to Christ. He endured the torments and malice of the pagans, and eventually baptized them. He later became a bishop to the Celts of northern Spain and Britain and is known as the Apostle of Britain.

Saint Aristobulus died in Britain among the people he had evangelized. His memory is celebrated on October 31 and also on the Synaxis of the Seventy Apostles January 4.
Saint Aristobulus is also commemorated on March 16, and on October 31 together with Saints Stachys, Amplias, Urban, Narcissus, Apelles.
- from the website of St. Nicholas of South Canaan Orthodox Church (OCA), Billings, Montana.

(Hyperlinks to Scripture added.)

May we mark both the Sunday and the saint's day with appropriate joy.

New Bishops

2009-03-13T09:04:00.000-07:00

H.G.Alexios Mar Eusebius

No, not those bishops; there are plenty of places to lose your Lenten peace over that.

On March 2, the Malankara Orthodox Church (Indian non-Chalcedonian Orthodox under the Catholicos Didymus I) appointed two new bishops for North America: H.G. Zacharia Mar Nicolavos is appointed Assistant Metropolitan attached to the North East Diocese of America, and H.G. Alexios Mar Eusebius is Metropolitan of the Diocese of South West America.

Many other dioceses were also created.

Many years to all.

A Happy Name Day in D.C.

2009-03-12T11:26:00.000-07:00

Best wishes for a blessed name day to St. Gregory the Great Orthodox Church (AWRV) in Washington, D.C. Ad multos annos!

For Byzantine Lent

2009-03-10T07:32:00.000-07:00

We thought we'd pass on this e-mail joke submitted by our friend -- and virtual bishop! -- Jean-Miche, who sent us:


a 20 year-old joke of the great Maldon monastery (Essex)

Q: What are the two most appropriate vegetables to eat during Lent?

A: Peas and lettuce, because:

In peas, lettuce pray unto the Lord.

(source : Vasili)

Thanks for lightening the mood, Jean.

Lent: You Call This a Fast?

2009-03-06T08:20:00.000-08:00

Herewith, a sermon by the late Fr. Charles Dinkler, RIP:

No topic is more preached upon during Lent than is fasting. As we approach the end of Lent (Easter is April 30) and the heightened fasting period of Passiontide (Passion Sunday, April 17 through Easter), consider these words from Isaiah 58: 4-8:

Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as he do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.
Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?
Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the hands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward.

There is always a danger that Lenten fasts can be perverted in to mere obedience to the rules. One example is scrupulously following dietary rules which address the ingredients of food - no meat, for example. Another is symbolically giving up one thing, which can devolve into mere tokenism.

Lenten fasting is not a mere change of diet, as in “meat and chicken are forbidden but lobster and clams are not.” Fr. Schmemann once called this “all that superficial hypocrisy.”

We must take care that our fast, our whole Lent, does not become an occasion for our condemnation. We don’t fast for strife or debate, to make a fuss about what food is served, or the ingredients in it. We don’t fast to make our voice heard on high. We don’t fast to afflict our soul.

We fast to loose the bands of wickedness; to undo the heavy burdens; to let the oppressed go free; to break every yoke.

This article is not going to address any dietary restrictions. It does contain guidelines and suggestions inspired by Fr. Schmemann.

St. John of the Ladder speaks in Step 14 of gluttony and moderation. Nobody can go the 40 days of Lent without food or water. So how much fasting is enough? How much is merely minimalistic? Each Christian must judge this for himself, for her own circumstances.

Fasting means to be hungry. We have to push ourselves a little. We should go further, go beyond that state which is comfortable to us. We want to go toward the limit of our human condition, which depends entirely on food. In our hunger, we hope to find that our dependency on food is not the whole truth about us. Hunger is first of all a spiritual condition. And is is first of all a hunger for God.

It has been suggested that we exist in a half-hungry state throughout Lent. Not ill or incapable of functioning. But never full, satisfied, replete.

We should feel that twinge of hunger and remember that we are not the independent, self-subsisting personages we suppose our selves to be. We are not the masters of our fate. We are not the captains of our souls. Use the twinge of hunger to remember that all this self-centered, self-referential, solipsistic life is an imposture. It’s a fantasy, a delusion, a hallucination. Feel the hunger and remember: We are not our own. We have been bought with a great price and belong to God. Remember who we are and what we are about. Remember God and remember to pray to him, to know His will and to do it.

During Lent, strive for a “drastic reduction in the amount of food.” (Unseen Warfare, 1.1., p. 21.) But what about spiritual effort? But remember: The mere physical state of fasting will be rendered meaningless - and can become positively dangerous - if it is disconnected from this spiritual effort.

Spiritual effort does not just occur in church. Even in Lent, a person can only spend so much time in church. Those of us who are in the world, even if we make earnest attempts to attend all Sunday and extra Lenten services and on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter, may face insurmountable problems of distance or family emergencies or employers’ lack of support for frequent time off for church. Even in a Monastery, the monks only spend three-and-a half to five hours a day in the chapel.

What about the rest of our day? We spend most of our day at work, school, running errands, or at home. What can we practically do to increase spiritual effort?

Western Orthodoxy has an ideal and practical approach. Everyone should be equipped with the Ordo, which contains the Lectionary of what Old and New Testament passages should be read each day at home. Are you saying the offices of Morning Prayer and Evensong using the Ordo? These are totally doable. They are lovely and inspiring. They put us in touch with what we are about. One can say the offices at home, either as a family or each member individually. You don’t need a priest to do it. The English Office of Morning and Evening Prayer enables each member of the body of Christ to participate spiritually and practically in this worship.

What if you’re not at home or don’t have your Ordo and books? You may be walking to work, or in the car, on a train, waiting in a checkout line at the grocery store, on hold with your HMO, sitting at the bus stop, on your way to the Post Office. Pray where you are. At any time of the day, in any place, we can stop and pause and silently pray.

Remember the direction to pray without ceasing. We can’t start out with praying 23 hours a day. The saints and the church direct us to start with prayers at various hours of the day. On arising, at mid-morning, noon, early evening, just before bed, and any time we waken in the middle of the night - each of these times, pray. Even a short prayer is a good start: the Our Father, for example, or another prayer that resonates with you.

Once we master this, it is easier to expand prayer into the rest of the day, and to get closer to the command to pray without ceasing.

Lent should be different from the rest of the year. Lent looks different - the liturgical colors or lack of colors in the shroud-like Lenten array; the covering of crosses and images with veils.

Lent tastes different. What we eat is different. We may not, like some medieval monks, eat “tainted victuals” but we should certainly eat more modestly. Eat less food. Eat simpler food, humbler food, perhaps less tasty food. Spend less time on food. Avoid dinner parties and restaurant meals; eat modestly at home. Avoid unnecessary or “frill” foods like dessert.

Lent should sound different. We hear a difference in Church services with the different music and chant used during Lent. In olden times, you could hear the difference outside the church. In London, the theatre would close down for the Lenten season. Can you imagine going down to the cineplex today and asking them to close down for the season? Even socially, in times past the sounds of merriment were muted for Lent. Parties were postponed until Easter. We’re hardly able to obtain this situation today, with the torrent of sounds going around us.

Nowadays we are surrounded, engulfed, drowning in sound - much of it noise. We are bombarded everywhere, at all times. In elevators. On hold. The two biggest culprits are radio and television. And we don’t have to go outside to find the world; it’s there, invading our homes, crashing through the gates of our minds. Children do homework with earphones on. People go through the day with radio or TV on every minute. Radio stations advertise which one is best to keep on all day at work.

In former days people listened to music. Now, music is reduced to a ubiquitous background to other activities.

So what?

Silence matters. If we are never silent, if we are always distracted, focused on the outside, thinking and planning and hearing sounds all the time, how are we going to know what God is saying to us?

In “Ash Wednesday” T.S. Eliot wrote:

Where shall the word be found, where will the word
Resound? Not here, there is not enough silence.
Not on the sea or on the islands, not
On the mainland, in the desert or the rain land,
For those who walk in darkness
Both in the day time and in the night time
The right time and the right place are not here
No place of grace for those who avoid the fact
No time to rejoice for those who walk among noise and
deny the voice.

During Lent, consider: Are we using noise to avoid His face? To deny His voice? To stifle God’s Word? To shut up God’s grace?

The Roman Catholic saint John of the Cross speaks of a resounding silence, a sonorous silence. God is seen and heard in every one of us.

God is speaking within us. But how can we hear it if we are amused, distracted, consumed by all the noise going around us.

The Fathers of the church have a saying: “He who is never silent must never speak, for he has nothing to say.”

1 Kings 19: 9-13:
And he came thither unto a cave and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?
And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I , even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake.
And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.
And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And behold there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?

During Lent we work on anything that distracts us from God. But sound is primary; it is more pervasive and intrusive than the visual. We can always avert our eyes. But think of what we encounter on the streets. Ever try to ignore one of those cars using a sound system with an exaggerated bass response? Or a car alarm going off? Or a truck backing up? The whole area around them vibrates with noise. Our lives tend to be like those pounding, throbbing cars.

Like praying frequently in order to learn to pray without ceasing, we have got to have some silence in order to hear what the Lord God is saying to us. We need some silence to learn how to concentrate our attention and energies on God and doing his will.

How about drastically reducing the amount of radio and television we watch during Lent? You choose which - you know your own poison. And let’s be honest with ourselves. What can we live without? What distractions should we be giving up? Maybe reduce TV shows only to news programs or those of some genuine merit and depth.

By all these actions, Lent in our lives can start looking, sounding, smelling, tasting and being different.

New Western Rite Mission in Muleshoe, Texas

2009-03-02T15:17:00.001-08:00

From Antiochian.org. (Forgive how long it's taken me to post here, or how long it's been between posts here.):

On Sunday February 8th, 2009, Fr. Michael Keiser trekked out to the plains of West Texas and received 41 people as catechumens into the Holy Orthodox Church.

St. Clement Church in Muleshoe, Texas, began in September 1997 as a small group doing the Office of evening prayer on Wednesday nights and was affiliated with the Charismatic Episcopal Church. Fr. Sergio Leal was ordained to the diaconate in April 1998 and began serving a Deacon's Mass. In November of the same year was ordained to the priesthood. In April 2000, St. Clement purchased a church building where they currently worship.

In 2006, the Diocese of the South Central along with other dioceses, separated from the Charismatic Episcopal Church and formed another communion.

After much prayer and dialogue with others who have walked a similar path, it was decided that it was time to come home. The people of St. Clement would like to express their gratitude to Metropolitan PHILIP, Bishop BASIL and the whole Vicariate for making a way. To God be the glory!

I have to echo the last line, on behalf of the new faithful and the Western Rite: "To God be the glory!"

The Book of Hours and the Little Office of Our Lady

2009-02-01T07:23:00.000-08:00

From the archives of the website WesternOrthodoxy.com.

The Christian Church, following both Jewish tradition and Roman secular practice, established rules or canons for recital of certain prayers and devotions at specific times of the day. These formed the Canonical Hours in which daily liturgy or Divine Office of the Church was celebrated. As the Psalmist cried, “Seven times a day do I praise thee b/c of thy righteous judgments.” [Psalms 119:164]
In medieval times, devout laymen followed the example of the professed religious (i.e. monks and nuns). The lay people wished to have their prayer books and to follow, in their own way, the Church’s program of daily devotion. The Books of Hours, though originating in the Church’s liturgy, were the first commonly popular prayer books used by men and women who lived secular lives.
“The world can be likened to books written by the hand of the Lord.” The Saxon-born monk Hugh, Prior of the Augustinian monastery of Saint-Victor in Paris wrote this in 1133. His statement is an arresting reminder of the gulf that divides our scientific, technological age from the religiously oriented world of the Middle Ages. Books then possessed a mystique which had little to do with personal expression. Books were valued because they revealed the purposes of God and enabled man to know and worship the Creator. Books of Hours were thus, in a sense, the original self-help books - a genre that remains huge today.
The most important books were those in which Christ’s saving work, His redemption of mankind, was remembered and honored in the liturgy of the Church. In both the Orthodox Church of the Byzantine Empire and the Catholic Church of Latin Christendom, this liturgy was ceaselessly celebrated, in accordance with the texts in the Missal and the Breviary. The missal contains the texts necessary for the celebration of the Mass. The Breviary and the Divine Office (Divinum Officium or “godly work”), hymns, prayers, and other texts were sung by monks and nuns in choir at the Canonical Hours. They were also read daily, under the breath, by all ordained deacons and priests.
The Hours were made up of seven services. The night Hours of Matins and Lauds (usually taken together) were recited between midnight and dawn. These were followed at approximately 3 hour intervals during the day by the Hours of Prime, Tierce, Sext, and None, and the evening Hours of Vespers and Compline.
The Divine Office of the day takes an hour or two to read through privately. For the monastic community who sing the Office every day of the year, it takes much longer. The composition of the Breviary has changed little since the 11th century, when it was last expanded at the request of the Cistercians and other reformed Orders. First comes a calendar, essential for making sure that the right devotions are performed on each day in the year. The calendar is necessary because the content of each service varies according to the season, the day of the week, the Saint’s days and other feasts, both fixed and movable The Ordinary, with which the Breviary proper begins, sets out the constant elements of each Hour, with certain seasonal variations. The Ordinary is mainly a list of instructions and has been called “a prompter’s script.” Next follows the Psalter containing the psalms, canticles, and hymns to be used for every Hour for every day of the week. The Proper of Time which follows contains the Office (i.e. the text) of the various prayers to be recited on each day of the liturgical year; the Proper of the Saints contains the texts for the major Saint’s days; and the Common of the Saints contains the texts for categories of Saints (e.g., apostles, martyrs, confessors) and such as do not have an individual office.
The Breviary - despite the suggestion in its title of brevity - contains the whole text of the Divine Office, with the Psalter forming an essential constituent. It also contains a number of additional prayers and devotions to be recited in choir at regular times. These were introduced by St. Benedit of Aniane, (c. 750-821), reformer of the French monasteries and counselor to Louis the Pious, son of Charlemagne. Among these devotional accretions is a short service in honor of the Virgin Mary, which first appeared in the 10th century. Its recitation was made obligatory in the Benedectine monastery of Monte Casino in central Italy at an early date, but the widespread popularity in clerical circles of this extra devotion to the Virgin has been attributed to the piety of St. Ulric (d. 973) Bishop of Augsburg and of Berenger, Bishop of Verdun (d. 962). Urban II ( 1108-99) gave Papal approval by ordering the service to be recited by clerics for the success of the First Crusade.
The devotional practice of reciting this “Little Office of Our Lady” spread from the religious orders to the clergy, and from the clergy to the laity. What had started as an accretion to the Breviary became the favorite prayer book of lay people everywhere. Until the 13th century the Little Office of Our Lady was usually attached, as a kind of appendix, to the Psalter, the only prayer book normally used by lay people. During the 13th century it became detached, like fruit falling off a tree, and became a separate prayer book: The Book of Hours.
The fact that the Little Office of Our Lady was, from the first, concentrated on the Virgin Mary is of great significance. With no martyrdom or miracles associated with her during her lifetime, she became, through the mystery of the Incarnation, the central figure in an unprecedented devotion in which many of the deepest emotions of men and women were involved. It was to the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, that they turned most often. Through the intensity and multiplicity of her following she became the most popular expression of faith and devotion in the Middle Ages. She was the mother-substitute of all, the new Eve, the intercessor with God. Mary was more powerful than the Saints and less awful than God. As His mother she has peculiar influence with Christ; and her position between man and his Maker, as the Middle Ages pictured it, is exactly expressed by St. Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux (1090-1153) when he said that Christ desires us to have everything through Mary.
Frank M. Lewis
at Walnut Creek, CA
May 2, 1984, revised April 5, 2000.

It is good to see the website's archives finally unblocked, so we can read its articles.

And the Patriarch of Moscow Is....

2009-01-30T05:46:00.000-08:00

Met. KIRILL, elected Patriarch of Moscow on Tuesday

Of course, most of you heard days ago, but in case you did not: Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad has been elected Patriarch of Moscow. Kirill received 508 votes, with Metropolitan Kliment of Kaluga and Borovsk receiving 169. According to one news source, "Shortly before results were announced Vesti TV reported a miracle—the Cathedral’s Mother of God Icon began 'streaming myrrh very intensively.'" I know little about him, and nothing of his view of the Western Rite, but may God lead His servant and grant him many years.

Video: FULL(er) Christmas Eve Mass with Dom James Deschene

2009-01-28T15:00:00.001-08:00

Last week, we posted a condensed clip of Christmas Eve Mass celebrated by Dom James Deschene at the Church of Our Lady of Glastonbury, the chapel attached to Christ the Saviour Monastery (Christminster), a Western Orthodox Benedictine monastery in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Dom James and Reader Polycarp Sherwood notified us of a longer clip: 59 minutes long, containing nearly the full Midnight Mass of Christmas as celebrated at this Western Rite Church, according to the Liturgy of St. Gregory. It can be viewed on the church's website or Google Video, and I've embedded it below.

This video, which contains nearly the full Divine Liturgy, answers many, many prayers for those who would love to get a sense of what Western Rite Orthodoxy is like but live too far to visit one of our churches. This is what the Western Rite is all about. As Dom James wrote, "I believe it important for people to 'come and see' (or at least 'see') before critiquing our services. The best education in western-rite liturgy is to worship in it and to pray it." Thanks to him, Rdr. Polycarp, and all those who made this video possible.

As a liturgical note, you may notice this Mass has an Old Testament reading (in this case, from the Prophet Isaiah) in addition to an Epistle and Gospel; and it contains an ancient litany following the Nicene Creed (though not the Great Litany from the Byzantine liturgy, as some claimed for years, even when informed otherwise and asked to issue a correction). These elements (and a few others) are unique to Christminster's recension of the Mass.

This video gives new meaning to the phrase, "Watch, and pray."

Video: Christmas Eve Mass with Dom James Deschene

2009-01-24T08:20:00.000-08:00

What a joy and blessing this video is! Here is a condensed video of Christmas Eve Mass celebrated by Dom James Deschene at the Church of Our Lady of Glastonbury. Reader Polycarp Sherwood, who posted the video, writes, "The Church of our Lady of Glastonbury is attached to Christ the Saviour Benedictine Monastery (Christminster)...The Church and Monastery maintains a close relationship with the Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate and its various Parishes, some of whom have Oblates under the spiritual direction of Christminster and its Abbot Dom James Deschene."

Dom James has this to say on the church/oratory's website:

This year’s feast of the Nativity of our Lord was the first in our new monastic home in Canada, and was celebrated with great joy.

We were blessed to have with us as guests over the holidays Father Michael Phillips, a monk from the California Monastery of Saint John of Shanghai and San Francisco – and a former visitor to our previous home in Rhode Island; and first-year seminarian Aaron Oliver from Saint Vladimir’s Seminary in New York. With our own Father Joseph having arrived three weeks earlier, we were a full and happy house.

Our Christmas Eve Mass was a crowded celebration – the first time we’ve seen the church completely filled. (Emphasis added.) Visitors included familiar friends and faces, including several Orthodox and Anglican clergy.

The chant schola of the Gregorian Institute of Canada, under the direction of Dr. William Renwick, professor of music at McMaster University, provided the Latin chants for the Mass, as well as traditional carols in which the congregation joined. The service was videotaped and recorded and should be available on our websites in the near future.

A festive collation followed in the monastic refectory, compliments of Bob Sherwood and Ken McRae. As visitors left, snow was falling. We have been told that the old calendar Christmas is always marked by snow in Hamilton – we will have to verify this by more Christmases here.

To all our friends elsewhere, we wish you a blessed Nativitytide and a New Year filled with God’s grace and blessings.

+Fr. James

Abbot

The fact that the church is filled is evident in the video, but the glory of this celebration of the Liturgy of St. Gregory is ethereal. It's far more beautiful than the Mystery Worshiper report could convey. :) Many of our readers and correspondents have asked for a video of a Western Rite Mass for a very long time. Here, at last, it is. (Any chance we could prevail upon Reader Polycarp to post a bit more?) Our deepest thanks to those who shot and posted the video, the choir director and singer, and above all, the monks of Christminster Monastery for manifesting the full Benedictine charism and showing a Western Rite Orthodox monastic life is possible - as well as how beautiful life in the Western Rite is.

Saint Ambrose Prayer Book Now Available

2009-01-11T15:36:00.001-08:00

The Saint Ambrose Prayer Book, a Western Rite prayer book now available from Lancelot Andrewes Press
It's here: a handbook of private devotions specifically for Western Rite Orthodox Christians. Lancelot Andrewes Press has announced the release of The Saint Ambrose Prayer Book. The 450-page-long book contains prayers and devotional material for morning and evening prayer, confession, the Eucharist, prayers for the departed, and much more. A partial review of its contents includes:

The Christian's Obligations and Spiritual Outlines. This includes such things as rules for fasting and worship, as well as the Ten Commandments, the nine Beatitudes, the seven deadly sins, the spiritual and corporal works of mercy, etc.;
Common Prayers. The prayers every Orthodox Christian should memorize, including the Lord's Prayer; the Confiteor; and prayers for morning, evening, and midday;
Occasional Prayers for various needs;
Devotions for Holy Mass. In addition to prayers and offices of preparation for and thanksgiving after Holy Communion, this section includes the entire text of both the Liturgy of St. Gregory and the Liturgy of St. Tikhon, and counsels for communicants
Confessional Devotions. This includes an examination of conscience, a form of Confession, and the seven penitential Psalms;
Prayers for the Dead, including the Requiem Mass and prayers at graveside; and
Various Devotions, including litanies to the saints, a Visit to the Christmas Creche, and short prayers.

This is merely an overview, not a comprehensive Table of Contents, nor a review. One can take heart that the volume has been edited by the Very Rev. Fr. John Winfrey, Archpriest, who compiled the beautiful Antiochian Archdiocese's Holy Week Service Book for the Eastern Rite.

The Saint Ambrose Prayer Book is now available for $30 from Lancelot Andrewes Press. A trade discount on bulk orders of 10 or more are available for churches and book stores.

Practical Tips for a Move to Western Orthodoxy

2009-01-01T11:07:00.000-08:00

From WesternOrthodoxy.com. I have updated some of the information from this original post, written on that website and not by me, to reflect our new Western Rite Vicar General, the Very Rev. Fr. Edward Hughes. This is a helpful, practical guide for those who are looking for a new church home in the new year.

Practical Tips for a Move to Western Orthodoxy
This article is a collection of points to think about for those considering a group move to Orthodoxy. Some are practical - how to make a great altar for a temporary space. Others are legal issues to explore with counsel. Not every point applies to every situation. These thoughts are offered by those who have been through this process, survived and thrived.
Phase 1:
Exploring Your Options
A great move. Here is what one layman, whose father had been an Episcopal priest, wrote after he and his parish completed a move to Orthodoxy:
My wife and I talked, we prayed, we thought about it. 73 years of Episcopal Church worship were ‘on the line.’ To leave was almost inevitable, but filled with fear and trepidation. We went to our first Western Rite Orthodox communion still unsure. Lo and behold we found ourselves at home, and what a homecoming! The liturgy, the prayers, the celebration of the Mass without the contamination of inclusive language, without the intrusion of contemporary political liberalism. We were Home! Surely God was leading us, loving us and guiding us! Home! How else can you say it? Home with Jesus Christ! Free at last to worship as our fathers and their fathers before them. Thanks be to God.
Like any important move - such as to your dream home or a great new job -- a move to Western Orthodoxy takes consideration, planning, and effort. This article makes it easier to think through and complete that process. And here’s the best news: Coming home to Orthodoxy is the last move you’ll ever have to make.
Call with questions! The Archbishop has appointed a Vicar General as the person directly under him to deal with Western Rite issues, inquirers, liturgics, etc. Grab the telephone and call the Vicar General about any issues, concerns, problems, or just to talk about Western Orthodoxy. He can help personally or refer you to someone in the Vicariate. The Vicariate can also arrange speakers -- for example, other priests or lay people who have gone through this and can speak to your people. Here are the address and telephone numbers:

The V. Rev. Edward Hughes
103 Pleasant St
Methuen, MA 01844
(978) 685-4052 or (978) 686-3274

Bricks and Mortar. Most new churches start fresh in a new space. If you are thinking of trying to keep the old church building, get excellent legal counsel far in advance of any move. In the Episcopal church, this has been made very difficult by changes to canon law designed to thwart people changing affiliations. Get solid, independent legal advice. Whatever the advice, think hard before devoting your early years and resources to a custody battle for the building. You may decide, in the words of one parish, to say “You keep the building, and we’ll keep the Church.”
Testing the Waters. Normally, the movement to Orthodoxy begins with a few people. It is of course desirable - both for spiritual and pragmatic reasons -- to bring with you as many people as possible. However, you must be discerning and realistic. You know your parish. Establish your core group before you make any announcement. This is particularly true if it appears that only a portion of the parish will be likely to make the move. Begin cautiously, approaching only those persons you are confident would be interested. After you make your announcement, you may be amazed at the number of people who join you. You may also be surprised by some persons who do not, and who may even become hostile.
Loose Lips. As you explore the possibility of forming a group to join Orthodoxy, be circumspect. This is especially true if a priest or deacon is considering whether he is called to go with you. If the hierarchy of your current denomination discovers your discussions or search before you have finalized your plans and announced your departure, it could make a “pre-emptive strike” against you. Excommunications or suspension of clergy can present difficulties if done before you are ready to move. Such actions can injure the financial position of clergy and their families by creating gaps in retirement packages, group health insurance, etc. While new arrangements will eventually be made, you want such matters to be negotiated and transferred, rather than starting anew or after a lapse in coverage.
Address People’s Concerns. Once you are discussing the possible move, take time to solicit and address any concerns parishioners have about the idea. People may have erroneous ideas, such as that Orthodox services require 3 hours of standing, or aren’t in English. Show people the Western Rite service, so they can be comfortable with it. If people are concerned about joining a church they may perceive to be “ethnic”, address that head on, including by explaining that something like half the members and clergy of the Archdiocese are converts, and that Western Orthodox folks in particular are almost all converts. Offer to put people in touch with similar lay people from other parishes who made the change.
More Orthodoxy Online. Investigate the additional resources and information available on other Western Orthodox websites. Check out our Links page.
Phase 2:
Physical & Legal Preparations for the Move
Once you decide to move, you have two main needs: (1) To gather the vestments, books and other hardware necessary for proper worship, and (2) To establish the legal framework for your new parish. These activities should go on concurrently.
Holy Hardware
You will want to make the first liturgy in the new space look and feel like as much like a “real” church as possible. Plan ahead for vestments, acolyte cassocks and surplices, altar items, etc. At the same time, don’t obsess if you don’t instantly own everything you had at the old church.
A Little Leaven. Orthodox communion bread is leavened. For leavened priest’s wafers and people’s hosts, call (931) 836-8089.
Service Books. Order service books in advance. Write to the Vicariate about Western Rite materials available from the Vicariate or the Archdiocese. Depending on how “Novus Ordo” your parish was forced to go, you may no longer have 1940 Hymnals or a proper Anglican altar Missal or the English Gradual. Here are ideas on where to get those:
What’s in the Attic? If the old church has copies of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer or 1940 Hymnals or English Gradual books stored somewhere and never used, consider negotiating to take them with you. (This would be done after your announcement is made.) The BCPs do contain material not used by Western Orthodox, but are handy because they contain the proper version of the psalter. (See also Daily Office, below.)
Bookstores. Second-hand book shops often have inexpensive copies of the 1940 Hymnal and 1928 BCPs. Ask everyone in the parish, especially those practiced at ferreting things out in bookstores, to look for them. Have a book marking party to make the small linguistic changes necessary to reflect Orthodoxy’s rejection of the filioque. Delete the words “and the Son” from the Creed’s “who proceedeth from the Father and the Son . . .”. Occasionally a hymn has an embedded reference to the filioque. These are also easily fixed. For example, Hymn 199’s last line refers to the Holy Ghost as “who from Both with Both is One/” Change this to “who with Both is ever One.”
Auctions. Try searching for vestments, candlesticks, altar linens, and other tangible items online. At any given time there’s an amazing amount of religious hardware on offer through Ebay, for example. If you don’t find what you need immediately, you can register a personal shopper request for it. That means Ebay will email you whenever a new item comes up that matches your request. Yahoo’s auction service has a similar feature. Consult someone in your group who’s an experienced online auction shopper. And be sure to ask any questions before you bid for something. Also check out traditional auction houses in your area. If possible, make arrangements to be alerted when church-related goods come up for bidding.
Coordinate Donations. Set up a Donations or Arts Committee. People may be in a fever to donate things. Unless judgment and oversight are exercised, you can end up with a bunch of stuff that doesn’t match, some of which is undesirable, and all of which must be used to avoid giving offense. Draw up a prioritized list of what the church needs. This might include references to the Wippell’s catalog (preferable to the Almy, which is more Novus Ordo) and prices. Circulate it, or use it tactfully as a reference when people express interest in giving something. Wippell’s USA contact information is:

1 Mill Street
P.O. Box 468
Branchville, NJ 07826
tel. (973) 948-2134.

I’ve Got a Little List. Appoint one of your number to keep a detailed list of all gifts made, especially physical items. Describe the gift with specificity (e.g., Silver plated monstrance with Limoges image of the Blessed Virgin Mary). For major items like a processional cross, set of vestments, etc. consider taking a photograph. For each gift, list the donor(s)’ names, addresses, the date the gift was received, and whether it is in memoriam. If the gift is a memorial, list the name of the person in whose memory the gift is given, and that person’s relationship to the donor. Include the value of each non-cash gift, and any supporting documentation the donor may have. This list is a permanent record for your mission and the parish it will become. The record helps people to establish the charitable exemption for any gifts, and can also help establish an insurance claim in the event of a loss in future years. (Store one copy of the list away from the church for this purpose.)
Let Us Build an Altar. A practical altar is easily built with two tall sawhorses and a large, solid, heavy board. When covered with a Jacobean frontal the altar looks great. See our instructions for making and vesting an altar.
Laudian Frontals. The beauty of the traditional Laudian frontal is also very practical for those in temporary worship spaces. Essentially, you sew a large rectangle large enough to throw over the altar and flow out regally all around. You can round off the corners, or leave them square and simply turn them under at the altar. This frontal not only makes for a beautiful altar, it also saves all of the material so that it can be re-used later when you have a permanent space of your own. If you can find locally or afford to order from Wippell’s a good all-seasons tapestry suitable for formal liturgical use, you can start with a single frontal to use year-round. Since good tapestry is costly, it’s usually less expensive to buy solid color fabric in the various liturgical colors and make a different frontal for each season. Look for a fabric that drapes nicely and has a bit of heft to it. Upholstery grade material works well. See our instructions for making and vesting an altar.
The Propers. If your choir director is unfamiliar with how to chant the propers in the English Gradual, or if you need the books, call the Vicariate - there are people who can help.
Pew missals. A people’s Western Orthodox Missal is available from the Archdiocese. Updates/revisions to it are available from the Vicariate. Also available is a red paperback edition of the liturgy. This is an inexpensive choice for those just starting out.
Thurible and Incense. Incense is required at Mass in the Orthodox church. You can get a thurible and incense from Wippell-Mowbray. (See "Coordinate Donations," above, for contact information.) Plain frankincense is available at some health food/natural food stores and some Greek Orthodox sources. (Note: The thuribles used in the Eastern Rite are not appropriate for WR use because they have bells on them.)
Stablish The Thing: Legal and Organizational Preparations
Mission Control. As soon as your group is reasonably defined, and you are sure you are going to make the move, contact the Western Rite Vicariate, so that your status as a Mission of the Orthodox Church can be established as soon as possible. This is very important - it provides you with a place to be, an anchor, so that you are not just a group of people with no association or defined purpose. It also can allow you to accept tax exempt gifts and pledges, using the charitable and/or religious tax exemption of the Vicariate or a local Orthodox church which may be designated to help you.
Do You Exist? Consider forming the legal structure of the new church in advance. Start the process for incorporation, or whatever the appropriate formalities are in your state. The Antiochian Archdiocesan sample articles of incorporation will help you get started. Supplement them with federally-required provisions and requirements specific to your state.
Getting Your Own Tax Exemption. Talk with your counsel about securing a tax exemption under Internal Revenue Code, Section 501(c)(3), as well as a similar exemption from the state in which you are organized and operate your new parish. This is valuable, since it exempts the church from income tax as well as from most or all state taxes. It also means gifts may be deducted by the donor.
Keeping Your Tax Exempt Status. Once your parish obtains a tax exemption, you must keep it. One of the Internal Revenue Service tests is the “organizational and operational test”. A church must demonstrate that it is organized and will be operated exclusively for religious purposes. Statements to this effect should go in both the bylaws and in the Articles of Incorporation, where the corporate purpose is given. The IRS also requires that religious organizations refrain from lobbying or political campaigning. Church bylaws and articles of incorporation must also provide that church assets are irrevocably dedicated for religious purposes, and that if the church ever dissolves its assets will be distributed to another tax-exempt religious organization. (See the Antiochian Archdiocesan sample articles of incorporation.) You should consult with your local counsel about these provisions, as well as how your organization can meet these tests to obtain and maintain tax exempt status.
Insurance. Get your new insurance up and running before your first service. Include these coverages among those you consider: Property insurance, to protect against loss to buildings and things belonging to the church (vestments, supplies, books, furniture, etc.); Liability insurance, to protect the church from any third party claims (such as if a visitor slips and falls at your service). Liability insurance may include coverage for Directors and Officers (your clergy and vestry members) and for clergy malpractice. Pick an insurance expert knowledgeable about the needs of churches and non-profits, and ask for a church combination package. This can offer all needed coverage at a substantial discount over the cost of buying each policy separately.
Accounting. The account books of the mission must be established right away to keep track of monetary donations, gifts and pledges, and to assure that the federal Internal Revenue Code and the tax laws of your state are complied with. Get the accountant in place even before you make the break -- it’s essential that proper books and records be established at the very beginning.
Health Coverage. Write to the Archdiocese to arrange clergy health coverage through the Archdiocesan plan. Shop around also. Depending on local circumstances, you may be able to secure a better deal on the open market.
Decency and Good Order. Make sure everything is in apple-pie order at the old church before you announce your plans and certainly before you actually go. This means physical space, church property, accounts, etc. Take photographs of the exited space and bring them with you. Do this even if there is no sign of trouble - if you never need them, fine. However, claims of damage or tampering may be asserted after you’re gone and not in a position to rebut them without photos. Immediately after the move, consider going over the property with the Bishop or other person in authority, as one would with a landlord on exiting an apartment.
Mine and Thine. If you are bringing anything with you that somebody could argue belongs to the old church, be open about it. Document why you believe it need not remain behind. Invite the old church to let you know if it disagrees.
Put it in Writing. Document everything. This need not be done in a stilted, legalistic manner. Use a friendly letter instead. The point is to have something in writing, both to smoke out any misunderstandings so they can be resolved promptly, and to have a record of what went on. The address box of the letter should include the recipient’s title, e.g. Senior Warden. Here’s an example of a legally effective confirming letter, which has a non-threatening, friendly tone. If you secure a deal to buy unused books, you could write:
Dear Walter,
Thanks so much for agreeing to sell the old BCPs and 1940 hymnals to our new mission at 50 cents a copy. We counted 150 total, so here’s our check for $75 - if you came up with a different number just let me know. I’ll have somebody pick them up after the Thursday liturgy next week.
Thanks again, ____.

Or, to document that certain objects formerly used and stored at the old church are going to the new, you could write:
Dear Elizabeth,
As I mentioned to you at coffee hour last week, the folks leaving to start the new Orthodox mission are bringing with us the silver tray used for the entrance votive candles and the set of Oxblood vestments for Passiontide. As you know, the tray was on loan from Mrs. Waters, who is joining the new mission. The vestments were given to Fr. Glaston personally and thus are going with him.
If you have any questions, just give me a ring.

You get the idea.
Proof of Delivery. Send any written items in a way that gives proof of delivery, such as Federal Express or certified mail, return receipt requested. If for some reason you decide that it will be too offensive or “in your face” to send an item in such a way, consider having an independent person - like a neighbor or friend not affiliated with the church - review the letter, seal it and hand deliver it. That way, there’s a relatively neutral person to confirm delivery. On the file copy of the same item, have the person make a note of when and how it was delivered. For example “Handed personally to secretary outside Fr. Smith’s office, Wednesday March 10th at noon.” Or, “Went to the church Friday June 3rd at 4:30 p.m., nobody there, put the letter through the mail slot.”
Media Coverage. If the press gets involved in your change, seek out parishioners or others experienced in handling the media -- this is a great opportunity to get your message across. Consider sending press releases to the Religious Editor or other suitable media sources. Be sure to send your draft press release to the Vicar General before it goes out. This helps ensure a consistent message and enables you to build on what others have done in the past. Comments to the media should be upbeat. Give your reasons for the change, stressing the positives of Orthodoxy, not the negatives of your old denomination.
Phase 3:
Up and Running
Welcome to Orthodoxy. Consider asking for “Welcome” letters from the Vicar General, your local W.R. dean, and any other Orthodox clergy who may have been involved in your transition. It is very cheering to have these read aloud at the first service. It underscores that the people aren’t just leaving something, they are joining something. Also, reading letters from the duly constituted authorities underscores that you are not vagantes.
Be It Ever So Humble. Once you have established your mission, you must have a place to hold your services, vestry meetings, etc. This place need not be grand, nor what you ultimately want your church building to be. However, it is extremely desirable that it be a place that is exclusively yours, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If it is all yours, almost anything will do for a beginning. You may hear arguments that you cannot afford any such place, and that homes should be used, or that a place should be rented just for Sunday mornings. Occasionally this must be so. However, you should look at the budget very carefully and sacrifice other things to get a place of your own. This will enhance your sense of mission and may also help you grow. It’s hard to get new folks into a private home, or to explain to inquirers that Mass is here, Matins there, and Evensong someplace else. Also - it’s a lot of work traipsing altar frontals, missals, thurible, etc. from place to place. Much better to have your own, blessed site where all can remain up from week to week.
Begin As You Mean to Go On. People are generally most receptive to change right at the time of the switch. If things like the propers, incense, formal liturgical language, veiling during Lent, etc. were forced to lapse in the old church, restore them right away, the first day. Toss the cassock-albs or other Novus Ordo vestments and start with the right stuff on day one. That way, these features are understood as givens, non-negotiable from the start. If you start without such things, it may be difficult to add them later.
Bless Thine Heritage. As you settle in, remember two key rules: No Novus Ordo, No Byzantinism. Look at old prayers you’ve collected; if they’re Novus Ordo, retranslate them back to traditional, liturgical English, or get the original version from an older source. Have the choir director take the same care with anthems. Well-meaning Eastern Orthodox may suggest you adopt customs or rituals followed in the Eastern Rite. Sometimes in the zeal of joining a new group, people may want to do that. This is forbidden; See the Ordo. The Eastern and Western Rites - including non-liturgical customs - are not hybridized. Each is preserved separately in its glory and fullness. Indeed, one of our new blessings is that when away from home we can attend Eastern Rite liturgies as full participants, just as our Eastern Rite brethren do when they visit a Western Rite parish.
Blessed Bread. Western Orthodoxy has restored the ancient Western custom of offering the eulogiae or pain benit - bread which is blessed, but not consecrated. At least as early as the 6th century, the custom of giving out blessed bread to non-communicants was prevalent in England, France and Germany. The Sarum liturgy, an inspiration for the Orthodox liturgy of St. Tikhon, has a specific prayer to bless the eulogiae, which is approved for Western Orthodox today: “Bless, O Lord, this creature of bread, as thou didst bless the five loaves in the wilderness, that all who partake thereof, may receive health both of body and soul. In the name + of the Father, and + of the Son, and of the Holy + Ghost. Amen.” Giving blessed bread to all is a kind and helpful custom for today, since persons who do not share the Orthodox understanding of communion might otherwise feel uncomfortable at not being able to receive. It is also a good example of the joy --and paradox-- of becoming Orthodox - that in the “Eastern” Orthodox church, we can be more free than before to fully pursue and enjoy all that is good in our Western Christian heritage.
The Daily Office. If people have gotten out of the habit of saying daily Matins and Evensong, teach on this. Get a sufficient number of Ordos, from:
ORDO
St. Luke's Priory Press (website under construction)
1325 E. Queen Ave.
Spokane, WA 99207
Also available is The English Office. Look at used bookstores for a single volume combining the King James bible (the authorized English language bible for our Archdiocese) and the 1928 BCP. This is very useful for saying the office.
King James Version. If necessary, alert lay readers for matins and evensong to practice the lesson from the KJV, and have a KJV bible at the church for readers to use. You may need to remind people to use the old form of introducing and readings: E.g., “Here beginneth the ___ verse of the __ chapter of the Epistle of James.” “Here endeth the [first or second] lesson.”
Confession. In addition to the General Confession at each liturgy and in the daily office, The Orthodox Church stresses sacramental confession to a priest. If this has not been customary or well-understood in your prior affiliation, consider teaching on this.
Bequests to the Church. After the switch, people whose wills contain bequests to the old church or affiliated organizations may wish to change their wills to leave the bequests to the new church instead. An announcement can be made in the bulletin reminding people of this issue.
Emergency notification cards. As at a school or office, it’s a good idea to have emergency notification cards. These tell the parish leaders who to call if a member is ill, has an accident, etc. If you had them at the old church, consider photocopying those of parishioners who are founding the new church. (Get their permission first, in writing.) Or, create/copy a form, and have them filled out at the first meeting or service of the new church. Some people may have included the church or priest as an emergency contact on a wallet card or at work. If the telephone number of the clergy or the church office has changed, consider reminding people to update such designations.
Funeral directions. Consider having parishioners fill out a card indicating their wishes (hymns, burial site, etc.) in this regard. The Orthodox church disfavors cremation. Relatives, however, may prefer it because it is perceived as cheaper. Having written confirmation of parishioners’ wishes can avoid unseemly disputes down the road, perhaps with relatives who are a different religion or unchurched. Your local funeral director is a good resource for whatever forms work in your state.
Resignations. Consider whether members wish to or need to resign from church-related boards or organizations affiliated with the old entity. For example, if you are the old parish’s representative to the ECW, you need to resign from that. Do this in writing and retain copies. It’s thoughtful to copy the old church on the letter, so that they know you’ve taken care of this. Depending on terms between those leaving and those staying, consider asking who your replacement will be and including that in your letter.
The Acolyte Corps. In Orthodoxy, only men and boys serve as acolytes. If your old church allowed female acolytes, you need to prepare them to understand and accept this change. Consider recruiting the former female acolytes to a new job in the new church - running the book table; coordinating the outreach program; managing the schedule of who sets up each week for liturgy, etc.
The Altar Guild. In the Western Tradition, it has long been a special ministry of church women to care for the vestments, altar linens and vessels, to help set up the altar, and to arrange and place the altar flowers. This is one of many instances where the Western Orthodox tradition is different from the Byzantine practice (only men deal with the altar). If you already have an altar guild, it can transition seamlessly into Western Orthodoxy. If your past affiliation doesn’t have this feature, talk to other Western Rite priests and altar guild directresses about how to get it going. One practical set-up point is new to Orthodoxy: The Metropolitan Archbishop gives a silk square to each new parish at the time of its reception into Orthodoxy. This item, called the Antimens, goes on the altar every liturgy, under the Fair Linen.
Mail Forwarding. At the post office, fill out mail forwarding cards for the priest, vestry members and other individuals who may receive mail at the old church by name. Ditto for the rectory. If something is sent to you which should go back to the old church, forward it promptly with a nice note. (Keep a file copy of your note and a photocopy of the outside of the item forwarded.)
Set an Example. Act at all times in a courteous and businesslike fashion. In addition to being the right thing to do, it can help move to your parish people who are sitting on the fence. If the people who stay behind are acting angry, vindictive, and paranoid, and the people who moved to Orthodoxy are being friendly, open, and courteous, think about what kind of message that sends.
Memorial Gifts. Parishioners occasionally find it a wrench to leave behind gifts given in memory of their beloved dead. Consider negotiating to buy these for the new church, so that they may follow the giver. This may be a long shot, but you never know. Unless the leaving group is on extraordinarily good terms with the old church, this might best be done well after the dust has settled.
Prepare for the Novelty to Wear Off. After you’ve been up and running in Orthodoxy for awhile, prepare people for some degree of let-down. Remember Screwtape’s letter to Wormwood: “Work hard, then, on the disappointment or anticlimax which is certainly coming to the patient during his first few weeks as a churchman. The Enemy allows this disappointment to occur on the threshold of every human endeavour. It occurs when the boy who has been enchanted in the nursery by Stories from the Odyssey buckles down to really learning Greek. It occurs when lovers have got married and begin the real task of learning to live together. In every department of life it marks the transition from dreaming aspiration to laborious doing.” The novelty of setting up chairs and carting around “church in a box” runs out. Persevere.
Be Realistic. Do not suggest that life will be a perfect dream in Orthodoxy, that a person’s spiritual life will radically change and improve right away, that the church will magically triple in numbers and money, etc. This may sound silly - but in at least one instance people were told things like this, believed them, and were disappointed. Discuss the real reasons for becoming Orthodox: Orthodoxy is true. We can be in the historic and vibrant Orthodox church, in communion with millions of people, while also preserving all that is good and worthy in the Western Christian heritage. This is not just for our own benefit, but for that of all His holy church. Orthodoxy wants the glorious and beautiful traditions of the West restored unto her. While the Orthodox church, like any in this fallen world, has problems, they are vastly different from those with which many of us were familiar in a previous denomination. No argument about dogma, no political groupthink masquerading as Church doctrine, etc.
Spread the Word. Are there people who left your old church out of concern that it was departing from its true tradition? Who became unchurched for whatever reason? After the new church is up and running, let them know about it. Some people may be interested in joining; others may simply be glad to know that their former co-parishioners have found a home in Orthodoxy.
A Worthy Vocation. From the beginning, traditional Western Christianity has suffered attacks from within and without. In spite of the heresies, persecutions and schisms, and the serious attacks in our own 20th century, it has survived for 2,000 years. If you are considering becoming Western Orthodox, you may well be called by our Lord to preserve the magnificent heritage of the Western Christian Tradition, restored to Orthodoxy once more. This vocation is to perpetuate the Western Rite liturgy, and also the beauty, majesty, spirituality, and devotion of the Western Tradition. We are sure that if you are true to this calling, God will bless your endeavors.
Enjoy Your New Home! Thousands of people have found a new home in Orthodoxy - perhaps you are called to do so. Of course it is not easy. Of course it involves sacrifice - and plain old work, like some of the practical tasks outlined here. All good and true endeavors do. But we know of nobody who, having made the move, would ever go back. Welcome Home. Amen.
Write the Next Chapter. Is there something you wanted to see in this article that’s not there? Something your group found helpful in the transition and want to share with others? Send in you suggestions, and maybe they will be part of the next edition of this article.

St. Andrew Western Rite Church in Oklahoma City's New Home (And More)

2008-12-30T07:17:00.000-08:00

A new picture of the interior of St. Andrew Orthodox Church (Western Rite).

Fr. Mark Wallace of St. Andrew Orthodox Church, a member of the Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate, has posted a number of photographs of the church's new location. Fr. Wallace writes, "On Christmas Eve, 2008, the congregation of St. Andrew Orthodox Church was blessed to begin services in its own rented space at 6444 N.W. Expressway in Oklahoma City."Congratulations and Godspeed to St. Andrew's, Fr. Mark Wallace, and all its faithful!

The site has also added a Daily Lectionary. (The church celebrates the Liturgy of St. Tikhon.) Finally, you can read or listen to Fr. Wallace's sermons (and you should). Enjoy.

Update: Ooops! I changed the title to reflect the correct church name, St. Andrew, not "St. Mark." I had a rare Freudian slip, or I may well have had a prophecy about its priest. It was none other than Fr. Mark Wallace who pointed out my error. (Blushing.)

Incarnation: This is No Zeus

2008-12-25T16:21:00.000-08:00

A sermon from Fr. Charles Dinkler, RIP.

God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the Prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world.” Hebrews 1:1-2.

Everyone knows that a Christian has to stay on the straight and narrow way. One thing this means is that if he finds himself falling off the horse on one side, he must not overcompensate by getting back on the horse and then falling off on the other side.

The same is true of theology.

In the first 1000 years of Christianity, more time was spent defending the humanity of Jesus Christ than his divinity. Influenced by the pagan world and its sensibilities, many then could never conceive of God actually becoming a man. The flesh was too fallen, low, mortal, undivine, ungodly for there ever to be union betwixt the two.

Nestorious taught - amongst other egregious and grievous errors - that the Son of God “passed through Mary as water through a pipe.” He meant that she was merely a conduit. Jesus took nothing of her, nothing of her nature. He and she were not in any way consubstantial - i.e., He was not in any way, shape, or form of the same nature as she was.

The Church during the Christmas and Epiphany holidays takes special care to dispute this heresy. The feast we celebrate, the hymns we sing, the evidence we hear all rebut it. They keep his divinity in union with his humanity.

St. Paul says in Hebrews that Christ was made of a woman. “When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” He is made of her, he takes something of her nature, just as a merely human baby takes on his mother’s nature.

And the Word became flesh. It says “became”. Not “posed as” or “pretended to be” or “projected an image that looked like” flesh. He actually became flesh. He actually became a human like us.

Whatever there was of humanity, he became it. He took it all on. He became in every way like us, except for one thing: sin.

Sin is not of our human essence. It is the destructor of our essence. It is an addition to our humanity - or more accurately, a subtraction of it. We are less, not more, human when we sin.

Christ became human, he did all of this, without ever ceasing to be God.

Take the hymn we sing at the Christmas liturgy, Hymn No. 20: Of The Father’s Love Begotten. This hymn comes down to us from Prudentius in the 5th Century. Christians have been singing it for 1500 years.

The first verse nails down Christ’s divinity. The opening words are: “Of the Father’s love begotten/Ere the worlds began to be.” Look at that word “begotten”. That means that he partakes of everything the father partakes. He is “the express image of the father.” As C. S. Lewis notes, beavers beget beavers, dogs beget dogs, god begets god. Whatever is begotten is of the same nature as what begat it.

“Ere the worlds began to be.” Before one iota of creation came into being, God the Son existed. “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” Colossians 1:16-17. The last gospel reminds us of this every week: All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.

It applies as well to everything that shall be made in the future. Because all things are made for him. Everything that comes into existence is equally subject to him, equally made by him. He is very god of very god. He truly is the Son of the Living God.

The second verse of the hymn nails down Christ’s humanity.

O that birth forever blessed
When the Virgin, full of grace
By the Holy Ghost conceiving
Bare the savior of our race
And the babe, the world’s redeemer
First revealed his sacred face.

He was conceived by God the Holy Ghost. So God is involved in all of this. God, who is the Father of His only-begotten Son before all time, remains His Father now in His Incarnation. This is truly an act of God.

But it is not an act of God alone. Mary is a participant. By the Holy Ghost overshadowing her, Mary conceived. It is a virginal - but real -- conception. It entails real growth and development. She is his mother. Christ is a real partaker of her nature, which is our nature, though she is more pure and blessed. He is really divine, and really human.

Some might say “Bully for him. But what does all this abstract theological speculation have to do with me?” To put the question theologically, who cares if the Arians went around saying “there was a time when He was not”? Who cares if the Nestorians believed Christ to be divine, but not fully, completely, absolutely human. So what if He did pass through Mary as water through a pipe? Isn’t that better, since he therefore is uncontaminated by her humanity?

No. The Fathers have a saying: “What is not joined to God is not saved.” If our humanity is not made one with God through the incarnation, then our humanity is not saved. Our salvation is not merely by thinking good thoughts, or having some kind of bodiless mind-link with God. That might have been sufficient if God had created us as unfleshly, disincorporate minds, floating around freely anywhere we choose. But that’s not how we’re made. We are flesh and blood. And the way we’re made was good. God has chosen to redeem our life. He redeemed all of it: body, soul, spirit, humanity, human nature, the cosmos.

Christ takes all of it on. He consecrates all life anew. He hallows every moment of it from conception to death. Everything.

Are we conceived? So is He. Did we dwell in our mother’s womb for 9 months? So does He. Did we undergo birth? He was born too, just the way we are. If, as some new age psychologists say, people are messed up by birth trauma, he redeems that too.

He whom the heavens and the earth and the universe cannot contain is contained and constrained to dwell for 9 months in the womb. This is genuine birth. This is not some pagan god pretending to be a baby in a manger. This is not like those stories of the Zeus posing as a human for some sneaky or amorous purpose. Our god does it for real: He really becomes a human embryo and from there - like us - is born, grows up, and dies.

It’s not a case of “I was a teenage Messiah”. Or “My time as a baby miracle worker.” His humanity remains his forever.

Remember the words from another Christmas hymn, Hark the Herald Angels Sing: “Mild he lays his glory by”. Does this mean he ceases to be God? No. Not for one moment does he cease to be God. He retains the fullness of his divinity, but he lays it aside, he voluntarily forgoes it. He willingly forsakes the heavens and his godly prerogatives and power and glory and dominion - all for our sakes.

Note the well-balanced theology in the hymn: “Offspring of the Virgin’s womb” -- he has her human nature. “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see” - - he remains God. Then the two points are put together: “Hail the incarnate Deity”.

He was “pleased as man with man to dwell”. What does it mean to dwell as a man, as a human? When we’re babies do we get hungry and need to be fed by our parents? Yes, and so does he. Do we need our nappies changed? So did he. Do we have to obey and be subject to our parents? He does that too. Do we grow in wisdom and stature - at least in stature? St. Luke tells us explicitly that He grew in wisdom and stature.

Every aspect of our life, our humanity is joined to Him who at all times remains God and at all times since the incarnation is man, fully and completely. Our job is to continue in this union forever and ever, even through and beyond death.

So at this holiday time, we sing: Mild he lays his glory by, born that man no more may die. Born to raise the sons of earth. Born to give them second birth.

Keep the "Mass" in Christmas

2008-12-23T09:52:00.000-08:00

From the Orthodixie blog, Fr. Joseph Honeycutt writes that the Church needs to adopt a slogan besides "Keep Christ in Christmas":

[S]houldn’t we be encouraging people to keep the MASS in Christmas? Face it, if we believe as we claim to: Christ is already there!

Yet it is the MASS, the Divine Liturgy for the Feast, that constitutes Christ’s Mass – CHRISTMAS!

Hear the whole thing here. (Plugged in part because I really enjoy Orthodixie, in part for the use of the term "Mass"!)

A New Vicar General for the Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate

2008-12-09T10:23:00.000-08:00

Those in the Western Rite Vicariate have known for six months or more, but I see it has finally been announced publicly: After 37 years of service, the Very Rev. Fr. Paul Schneirla, Archpriest, has retired as Vicar General of the Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate. His resignation takes place effective at the first of the year, at which time the Very Rev. Fr. Edward Hughes, Archpriest, will become Vicar General. Fr. Hughes is pastor of St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and has been a long-time member of the Western Rite Commission. Fr. Hughes spent many years evangelizing on behalf of the Western Rite, training new priests through the St. George Institute, and instructing Western Rite students in the House of Studies component of St. Stephen's Course. He is also an expert on the Byzantine Rite (a real liturgical expert; the kind with a degree) and multilingual, attributes that serve him well as the chairman of the Antiochian Department of Liturgics and Translations. Just Sunday, this blog posted a series of photographs of Fr. Hughes celebrating the Western Rite Mass of St. Gregory (although photos do justice neither to his chanting nor to his teaching abilities). The Vicariate has been left in good hands, indeed.

Fr. Paul Schneirla remains as vigorous as ever in his ninth decade of life. His efforts led to the creation of the Western Rite Vicariate and Patriarch ALEXANDER III's 1958 decree allowing the Western Rite to be celebrated throughout the Patriarchate of Antioch. Within three years, Alexander Turner brought his group into the Antiochian Archdiocese as its first Vicar General, with Fr. Schneirla following him. As dear as it is to his heart, the Western Rite is not Fr. Schneirla's only accomplishment. Indeed, SCOBA recognized Fr. Schneirla's extraordinary efforts on behalf of North American Orthodoxy one year ago tomorrow. But no award could adequately convey the thanks all friends of the Western Rite owe to him.

Our prayers are with both; we hope rather their more effectual prayers will be offered on our behalf. Ad multos annos to them both.

Western Rite Slideshow

2008-12-07T06:31:00.000-08:00

I've been saving these for...a very long time.

For those unable to attend a Western Rite Mass in a canonical Western Rite Orthodox Church but want to have some idea what it looks like, here is an uplifting sight: a slideshow of Fr. Edward Hughes celebrating the Liturgy of St. Gregory at St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

Of course, this is no substitute for worshiping in a real Orthodox Church, whether Western or Eastern, but it's nice to see. Enjoy.

His Holiness Patriarch ALEXY II of Moscow, Memory Eternal

2008-12-05T10:43:00.001-08:00

Patriarch ALEXY II of Moscow, 1929-2008.

It is my sad duty to report that His Holiness ALEXY II of Moscow has reposed in the Lord. Below is an official news release. In addition to leading the Church of Russia into a post-Communist era, he repented of previous collaboration necessitated by that evil regime and reconciled ROCOR into communion with the patriarchate. His Holiness also supported the idea, and the reality, of the Western Rite, though usually covertly. He led his Church well, and placed the Church on a more solid footing than he received. God will reward his work. Requiescat in pace.

His Holiness Patriarch ALEXY II of Moscow and All Russia, 79, reposed this morning, December 5th, 2008. A session of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church will take place on Saturday, December 6th, to elect Patriarchal Locum Tenens who will chair the Memorial Commission. The Holy Synod will announce the time of the funeral of His Holiness Patriarch ALEXY.

_____________________________________

ALEXY II

PATRIARCH OF MOSCOW

AND ALL RUSSIA

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

His Holiness Patriarchy Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia is the fifteenth Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church since the establishment of the Patriarchal office in Russia (1589). Patriarch Alexy (secular name Alexey Mikhailovich Ridiger) was born on 23 February 1929 in Tallinn, Estonia, into the family of deeply believing people. Patriarch's father Mikhail Alexandrovich Ridiger (+1962), a native of St.Petersburg, studied at the Law College, graduated from the gymnasium while in emigration in Estonia, and in 1940 graduated from the three-year Theological course in Tallinn and was ordained deacon, and then later priest. For sixteen years he was Rector of the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God in Tallinn, and member and later chairman of the Diocesan Council. His Holiness's mother, Yelena Iosifovna Pisareva (+1959) was born in Revel (now Tallinn).

Every year the parents of His Holiness went on a pilgrimage with their son to the Convent of the Holy Assumption in Puhtica and to the Holy Assumption Monastery of the Caves in Pskov. In the late 1930s they made two pilgrimages to the Valaam Monastery of the Transfiguration of our Lord on Lake Ladoga. These pilgrimages largely determined the spiritual way of life of the future Patriarch. From his early childhood Alexey Ridiger served in the church under the guidance of his spiritual father Archpriest Ioann Bogoyavlensky, later Bishop of Tallinn and Estonia (+1949); from 1944 to 1947 was senior subdeacon of Archbishop Pavel (Dmitrievsky) of Tallinn and Estonia (+1946) and later of Bishop Isidor. Alexey Ridiger studied at the Russian secondary school in Tallinn. In 1945 subdeacon Alexey was instructed to prepare the Cathedral of St.Alexander Nevsky in Tallinn for opening so that divine services could be resumed there (the Cathedral was closed during the wartime occupation). From May 1945 to October 1946 he was an altar boy and sacristan of the Cathedral. From 1946 he served as psalm-reader in St.Simeon's Church and from 1947 - in the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in Tallinn.

He entered the Leningrad (now St.Petersburg) Theological Seminary and graduated from it with honours in 1949. When a student of the Leningrad (now St.Petersburg) Theological Academy, Alexey Ridiger was ordained deacon on 15 April 1950 and priest on 17 April and appointed Rector of the Church of the Epiphany in Johvi, Tallinn diocese. In 1953 Fr.Alexey graduated from the Theological Academy with honours and with the degree of the Candidate of Theology.

On 15 July 1957 Fr.Alexy was appointed Rector of the Cathedral of the Assumption in Tallinn and Dean of the Tartu district. On 17 August 1958 he was elevated to the rank of archpriest. On 30 March 1959 he was appointed Dean of the united Tartu-Vilyandis deanery of the Tallinn diocese. On 3 March 1961 he took his monastic vows in the Trinity Cathedral of the Laura of the Holy Trinity and St.Sergius. On 14 August 1961 hieromonk Alexy was nominated Bishop of Tallinn and Estonia and entrusted with temporary administration of the Riga diocese. On 21 August 1961 hieromonk Alexy was elevated to the rank of Archimandrite. On 3 September 1961 Archimandrite Alexy was consecrated Bishop of Tallinn and Estonia in the Cathedral of St.Alexander Nevsky in Tallinn.

On 14 November 1961 Bishop Alexy was appointed deputy chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate. On 23 June 1964 Bishop Alexy was elevated to the rank of Archbishop. On 22 December 1964 Archbishop Alexy was appointed Chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate and became permanent member of the Holy Synod. He was Chancellor till 20 July 1986. On 7 May 1965 Archbishop Alexy was appointed Chairman of the Education Committee. Archbishop Alexy was a member of the Holy Synod Commission on Christian Unity and Interchurch Relations from 17 October 1963 to 1979.

On 25 February 1968 Archbishop Alexy was elevated to the rank of Metropolitan. From 10 March 1970 to 1 September 1986 he supervised the Pensions Committee, the task of which was to provide pensions to the clergy and employees of the church organizations, as well as to their widows and orphans. On 18 June 1971 in consideration of his assiduous work for the carrying out of the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church of 1971 Metropolitan Alexy was honoured with the right of wearing the second panagia. Metropolitan Alexy performed executive functions as a member of the Commission for the Preparation and Execution of the 50^th (1968) and 60^th (1978) anniversary of the Revival of the Patriarchal Office in the Russian Orthodox Church, a member of the Holy Synod Commission for the Preparation of the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church of 1971, chairman of its Procedural and Organizational Group and chairman of the Secretariat of the Local Council. From 23 December 1980 he was deputy chairman of the Commission for the Preparation and Execution of the Celebration of the Millennium of the Baptism of Russia and chairman of the Organizational Group of the Commission, and chairman of the Theological Group from September 1986. On 25 May 1983 he was appointed chairman of the Executive Commission for the Transfer of the Danilov Monastery, organization and execution of all works for its restoration and construction of the Spiritual and Administrative Centre of the Russian Orthodox Church on its territory. He retained this post till his appointment to the Leningrad (now St.Petersburg) See. On 29 June 1986 he was appointed Metropolitan of Leningrad and Novgorod and entrusted with the administration of the Tallinn diocese.

On 7 June 1990 he was elected to the Moscow Patriarchal Throne at the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church. The enthronement was held on 10 June 1990.

Activities of Metropolitan Alexy on the international scene: as a member of the delegation of Russian Orthodox Church - participant in the 3^rd Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in New Delhi (1961); a member of the WCC Central Committee (1961- 68); president of the World Conference 'Church and Society' (Geneva, Switzerland, 1966); member of the WCC Commission on Faith and Order (1964-68). As head of the Russian Orthodox Church delegation participated in theological talks with the delegation of the Evangelical Church in Germany 'Arnoldshain-II' (FRG, 1962), theological talks with the delegation of the Union of the Evangelical Churches in GDR 'Zagorsk-V' (the Laura of the Holy Trinity and St.Sergius, 1984), theological talks with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland in Leningrad and in Puhtica Convent (1989). More than twenty-five years Metropolitan Alexy laboured in the Conference of European Churches (CEC). In 1964 Metropolitan Alexy was elected a CEC president (member of the Presidium) and was several times re-elected at the CEC general assemblies. From 1971 - vice-president of the CEC Presidium and Advisory Committee. On 26 March 1987 he was elected chairman of the CEC Presidium and Advisory Committee. At the 8^th CEC General Assembly on Crete (1979) Metropolitan Alexy was the keynote speaker on 'In the Power of the Holy Spirit - to Serve the World'. From 1972 Metropolitan Alexy was a member of the Joint Committee of the Conference of European Churches and the Council of Bishops' Conferences of Europe (CECE) of the Roman Catholic Church. On 15-21 May 1989 in Basel, Switzerland, Metropolitan Alexy was co-chairman of the First European Ecumenical Assembly 'Peace with Justice' organized by CEC and CCEE. In September 1992 at the 10^th CEC Assembly the term of Patriarch Alexy II as CEC chairman expired. His Holiness made a report at the Second European Ecumenical Assembly in Graz, Austria, in 1997. Metropolitan Alexy was an initiator and chairman of the four seminars of the Churches of the Soviet Union - members of CEC and the Churches, which maintained cooperation with this regional Christian organization. The seminars were held in the Puhtica Convent of the Assumption in 1982, 1984, 1986 and 1989. Metropolitan Alexy took an active part in the work of international and national peace public organizations. From 1963 he was a member of the Board of the Soviet Peace Foundation, a participant of the constituent meeting of the 'Rodina' (Motherland) Society, at which he was elected member of the Society Board on 15 December 1975; re-elected on 27 May 1981 and on 10 December 1987. On 24 October 1980 at the 5^th All-Union Conference of the Soviet-Indian Friendship Society was elected its vice-president. On 11 March 1989, he was elected a member of the Board of the Slavonic Literature and Slavonic Cultures Foundation. He was a delegate of the World Christian Conference 'Life and Peace' in Uppsala, Sweden (20-24 April 1983) and elected one of its presidents. From 24 January 1990 - member of the Board of the Soviet Charity and Health Foundation; from 8 February 1990 - a member of the Presidium of the Leningrad Culture Foundation. In 1989 he was elected people's deputy of the USSR on behalf of the Charity and Health Foundation.

Co-chairman of the Russian Organizational Committee for the Millennium Celebrations (1998-2000). An Interconfessional Conference 'Christian Faith and Human Enmity' was held in Moscow in 1994 on the initiative and with the participation of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II. His Holiness chaired the Conference of the Christian Interconfessional Consultative Committee ''Jesus Christ is the Same Yesterday and Today and for Ever' (Heb 13:8). Christianity on the Threshold of the Third Millennium' (1999) and the Interreligious Peace Forum (Moscow, 2000).

His Holiness Patriarch Alexy is an honourary member of the St.Petersburg and Moscow Theological Academies and the Orthodox Academy on Crete, Greece; Doctor of Theology of the St.Petersburg Theological Academy (1984); Doctor of Theology honoris causa of the Theological Academy in Debrecen of the Reformed Church in Hungary and of the Jan Amos Komensky Theological Faulty in Prague; Doctor of Theology honoris causa of the General Seminary of the Episcopal Church in the USA (1991); Doctor of Theology honoris causa of St.Vladimir's Theological Seminary (Academy) in the USA (1991); Doctor of Theology honoris causa of St.Tikhon's Theological Seminary in the USA (1991). In 1992 elected full member of the Russian Academy of Education. Doctor of Theology honoris causa of the 'Alaska Pacific' University in Anchorage, Alaska, USA (1993). Prize winner of the A.Ye. Kulakovsky State Award of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) 'For Outstanding Zealous Activity in the Consolidation of the Peoples of the Russian Federation' (1993). That same year His Holiness was given the degree of honorary professor of the Omsk State University for outstanding services to culture and education and honorary professor of the Moscow State University for outstanding services to the spiritual revival of Russia. 1994: Honorary Doctor of Philology of the St.Petersburg University (January 24) and Honorary Doctor of Theology of the Theological Faculty of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Belgrade (May 15). Honorary Doctor of Theology of the Tbilisi Theological Academy (Georgia, 1996); honorary member of the Public Supervisory Council for the Revival of the Christ the Saviour Cathedral. He was awarded the highest award of the Russian Federation - the Order of St. Apostle Andrew the First-Called, Order 'For Services to the Fatherland', many orders of the Local Orthodox Churches, state orders of different countries and awards of public organizations. In 2000 His Holiness the Patriarch was elected an honorary citizen of Moscow. He is an honorary citizen of St.Petersburg, Novgorod the Great, Republic of Mordovia, Republic of Kalmykia, the cities of Sergiev Posad and Dmitrov.

His Holiness was awarded with the national prizes 'Man of the Year', 'Outstanding People of the Decade (1990-2000) Promoting Prosperity and Fame of Russia', 'Russian National Olympus' and honorary public title 'Man of the Epoch'. His Holiness the Patriarch is the prizewinner of the international prize 'Perfection. Good. Glory' awarded by the Russian Biographical Institute (2001) and the main prize 'Person of the Year' awarded by the 'Top Secret' Holding (2002).

His Holiness Patriarch Alexy is the Chairman of the Patriarchal Synodal Bible Commission, editor-in-chief of the 'Orthodox Encyclopaedia' and Chairman of the Supervisory and Church Scholarly Council for the publication of the 'Orthodox Encyclopaedia', chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Russian 'Reconciliation and Accord' Charity Foundation and the head of the Board of Trustees of the National Military Foundation.

Throughout the years of his episcopal ministry Metropolitan Alexy visited many dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church and many countries of the world, attending many church events. Several hundred of his articles, presentations and works on theological, church and historical, peace and other topics were published in the church and secular press in Russia and abroad.

His Holiness Patriarch Alexy headed the Bishops' Councils of 1992, 1994, 1997 and 2000 and has always chaired the sessions of the Holy Synod. As the Patriarch of All Russia he has visited 81 dioceses, many of which several times. Altogether he made 120 visits to the dioceses, primary objective of which was the pastoral care for distant communities, strengthening the unity of the church and bearing Church witness in society.

Throughout his episcopal ministry His Holiness Patriarch Alexy presided at 83 episcopal consecrations (more than 70 after his election to the Patriarchal Throne), ordained more than 400 priests and almost an equal number of deacons.

His Holiness Patriarch Alexy pays great attention to the training of clergy for the Russian Orthodox Church, to the religious education of laymen and to the spiritual and moral education of the younger generation. For this purpose with the blessing of His Holiness the Theological seminaries, Theological colleges, and parish schools have been opened and structures for the development of religious education and catechization have been put in place. By 1995 it was already possible for the Church to re-establish its mission work. His Holiness pays great attention to building new relationship between the State and the Church in Russia. He adheres with conviction to the principle of separation between the mission of the Church and the functions of the state and of non-interference in the affairs of each other. At the same time he believes that the salutary ministry of the Church and the ministry of the state to society demand mutually free cooperation between the church, state and public institutions.

After many years of persecution and restriction the Church has regained the opportunity to carry out catechetical and religious-educational activity in society and also to carry out charitable work for the needy, in hospitals, homes for the elderly and prisons.

The pastoral approach of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy removes tension caused by unjustified fears and narrow corporate or personal interests between state institutions, responsible for the preservation of the monuments of culture, and the Church. His Holiness has signed several joint documents with the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and with the leadership of several museums located on the territory of the monasteries, which have ecclesiastical, historical and spiritual importance. These agreements resolve the afore-mentioned problems and give new life to the monasteries. His Holiness Patriarch Alexy calls for close cooperation among representatives of all spheres of secular and church culture. He is constantly reminding of the necessity to revive morality and spiritual culture, to overcome artificial obstacles between secular and religious cultures and between secular science and religion. A number of joint documents signed by His Holiness have laid a foundation for the development of cooperation of the Church with health and social security systems, the armed forces, law enforcement, justice and culture institutions, and other state structures. An well-organized church system of care for servicemen and personnel of law enforcement bodies was set up with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II. Throughout the period of political, social and economic reforms His Holiness Patriarch Alexy has constantly reminded people of the priority of moral aims over others, of the preference of the ministry to the good of society and concrete people in political and economic activities. His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia continued the tradition of Christian peace service in the period of social and political crisis in Russia in autumn 1993, fraught with the threat of civil war and undertook the mission of calming political passions by inviting the conflicting parties to negotiations and being a mediator at them. The Patriarch put forward many peace initiatives in connection with the conflict in the Balkans, the Armenian-Azerbaijani confrontation, hostilities in Moldavia, events in the North Caucasus, the situation in the Middle East, military operation against Iraq, etc.

Many new dioceses have been established throughout the years of the Patriarchal ministry of the present Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church. Thus many centres of spiritual and church administrative leadership emerged, which are located closer to the parishes and promote the revival of church life in the remote areas. As the ruling bishop of Moscow, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II pays a lot of attention to the revival and development of life within the dioceses and parishes. This work has become the pattern for the structuring of diocesan and parish life in other places.

The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church tirelessly works for the building up of church life and calls upon all members of the Church without any exception to participate in it more actively and responsibly on conciliar basis. He pays great attention to the problems of fraternal cooperation among all Orthodox Churches in common witness to the Truth of Christ to the world. His Holiness considers cooperation among different Christian confessions for the sake of meeting the needs of the modern world as a Christian obligation and as a way of fulfilling the commandment of Christ on unity. Peace and accord in society, to which Patriarch Alexy constantly appeals, embrace benevolent mutual understanding and cooperation among the followers of different religions and philosophies of life.

Two New Western Rite Ordinations

2008-11-24T14:30:00.000-08:00

The Newly Ordained Servants of God
Bp. ANTOUN Ordains Dn. Christopher Nerreau to the Priesthood	Fr. Nerreau and Fr. Kenneth DeVoie, with Bp. ANTOUN

We send our heartfelt best wishes to the newest Western Rite Orthodox priests ordained in the Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate. Two ordinations, to the diaconate and the priesthood, took place this weekend. As I reported two weeks ago, the former Charismatic Episcopal Church priest Fr. Ken DeVoie and the former CEC deacon Chris Nerreau were scheduled to be ordained to the diaconate on Friday, November 21, and to the priesthood on Saturday, November 22, at St. George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral in Worcester, Massachusetts. Fr. Kenneth will care for Emmanuel Orthodox Church in Warren, Massachusetts; and Fr. Christopher will tend St. Stephen's Orthodox Church in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Their ordinations come a little more than one month after the members of their churches, numbering more than 100 souls, were chrismated into the Holy Orthodox Church on October 18. You can see pictures of the chrismation service here.

We all send our best wishes to the Rev. Father Kenneth M. DeVoie and the Rev. Father Christopher Nerreau. Axios! Mustahek! They are worthy! May God grant them both a long and fruitful ministry.

Murder in an Indian Orthodox Church

2008-11-24T13:07:00.000-08:00

It appears a man opened fire in an Indian Orthodox Church in Clifton, New Jersey, killing two people and wounding others. The news account says the suspect, 27-year-old Joseph M. Pallipurath of Sacramento, California, violated his estranged wife's restraining order and tracked her down in New Jersey. When she refused to leave with her husband, who reportedly abused her, he opened fire in the vestibule of St. Thomas Syrian Orthodox Knanaya Church during Divine Liturgy.

He remains on the loose as of this writing.

His father is begging him to turn himself in. The same story talks about how waves of parishoners protected their priest, risking their own lives to save him. What a touching sign of their faith.

The cousin of the second victim counseled the gunman, "Turn yourself in." He added Pallipurath "has to get his punishment, whether it's from the justice system or from God."

May God lay to rest those who have died, and bring this man to justice. Justice, as the young man in today's news story states, awaits us all, whether at man's hand or that of God. Lord have mercy.

(I'm certain someone somewhere will interpret this charity toward a non-Chalcedonian Orthodox Christian as "proof" of my apostasy and write some rambling blog post against it. Let them. A shooting in any church is an abomination, especially one like this.)

Update: Federal marshals captured Pallipurath in the Atlanta, Georgia, area on November 24. I saw a bulletin on television around 9:30 p.m. Pacific time.

2008-11-14T18:48:00.000-08:00

Guess he didn't get the "free gift" part:
Man Accused of Trying to Steal Communion from Priest.

Imagine if they did this in church:
Israeli Soldier Given 21 Days in Prison for Yawning.

Bp. HILARION, on Futile "Dialogue" and Meaningful Action

2008-11-14T07:42:00.000-08:00

In a recent interview with Orthodoxy Today, Bp. HILARION (Alfeyev) of the Moscow Patriarchate noted the long and fruitless time Orthodoxy has spent (and is still wasting) on ecumenical dialogue with the most modernist, most radical of Protestants and proposes again proposes combatting modern anti-Christian forces around the world alongside Roman Catholics and Oriental (Non-Chalcedonian) Orthodox, while retaining our separate ecclesial identities. It is nothing new, but it is well worth a read:

After more than thirteen years of intensive ecumenical involvement I can declare my profound disappointment with the existing forms of “official” ecumenism as represented by the World Council of Churches, the Conference of European Churches, and other similar organizations. My impression is that they have exhausted their initial potential. Theologically they lead us nowhere. They produce texts that, for the most part, are pale and uninspiring. The reason for this is that these organizations include representatives of a wide variety of churches, from the most “conservative” to the most “liberal.” And the diversity of views is so great that they cannot say much in common except for a polite and politically correct talk about “common call to unity,” “mutual commitment” and “shared responsibility.”

This sounds very much like Met. HILARION of ROCOR, who said, "we can see that there is hardly any union reached, and this organization has lost its importance."

I see that there is now a deep-seated discrepancy between those churches which strive to preserve the Holy Tradition and those that constantly revise it to fit modern standards. This divergence is as evident at the level of religious teaching, including doctrine and ecclesiology, as it is at the level of church practice, such as worship and morality.

In my opinion, the recent liberalization of teaching and practice in many Protestant communities has greatly alienated them from both the Orthodox and the Roman Catholics. It has also undermined the common Christian witness to the secularized world. The voice of Christendom is nowadays deeply disunited: we preach contradictory moral standards, our doctrinal positions are divergent, and our social perspectives vary a great deal. One wonders whether we can still speak at all of “Christianity” or whether it would be more accurate to refer to “Christianities,” that is to say, markedly diverse versions of the Christian faith.

One may go so far as to say what Bp. HILARION leaves implicit: this is less about "Christianities" as Christianity vs. Non-Christianities, which masquerade as Christianity.

Under these circumstances I am not optimistic about the dialogue with the Protestant communities. I am also far less optimistic about the Anglican-Orthodox dialogue than my beloved teacher Metropolitan Kallistos Ware. In my opinion, the only two promising ecumenical dialogues are between the Orthodox and the Roman Catholics, and between the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox families. While there are well-known theological differences between these three traditions, there is also very much in common: we all believe in Christ as fully human and fully divine, we all uphold the apostolic succession of hierarchy and de facto recognize each others’ sacraments.

The use of the term "de facto" is of importance.

But even with regard to relations between the Roman Catholics and the Orthodox, both Eastern and Oriental, we need new forms of dialogue and cooperation. It is not sufficient to come once every two years for a theological discussion on a topic related to controversies that took place fifteen or ten centuries ago. We need to see whether we can form a common front for the defense of traditional Christianity without waiting until all our theological differences will disappear. I call this proposed common front a “strategic alliance” between the Roman Catholics and the Orthodox. I deliberately avoid calling it a “union” or a “council,” because I want to avoid any historical reminiscences and ecclesiastical connotations. Mine is not a call for yet another “union” on dogmatic and theological matters. I am rather proposing a new type of partnership based on the understanding that we are no longer enemies or competitors: we are allies and partners facing common challenges, such as militant secularism, aggressive Islam and many others. We can face these challenges together and unite our forces in order to protect traditional Christianity with its doctrinal and moral teaching.

His Grace has long proposed such a strategic alliance, whether formal or informal. At the risk of misinterpreting his comments by tying them together in my own shorthand, those being targeted by encroaching Secular Humanism may better spend their time discussing their defense of the faithful rather than humoring endless, hopeless "dialogue" with those Christians who have so clearly compromised with it. With the deteriorating state of Christendom in the West, especially in the culture of the nations in which Bp. HILARION's spiritual children reside (Western Europe), such an alliance (not "union," "reunion," or "ecumenical council") will come either through its constituent members' deliberate choice or of necessity, as they find themselves sharing a last, desperate foxhole, surrounded by impending darkness.

(Hat Tip: Ad Orientem)

The Other Latin Mass

2008-11-13T07:40:00.000-08:00

On the feast day of St. John Chrysostom, here's one for our Latin enthusiasts.

The complete text of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom in Latin, as translated by Erasmus, from vol. 63 of Migne's Patrologia. You'll have to scroll down, as the text begins with a (much abbreviated) Kairon, followed by the vesting prayers and Proskomedia. Then the Divine Liturgy begins with the immortal invocation:

Benedictum regnum Patris et Filii et Spiritus sancti, nunc et semper, et in sæcula sæculorum. Amen.

Enjoy.

(Hat tip: Leitourgia kai Qurbana)

New OCA Metropolitan JONAH

2008-11-13T07:03:00.000-08:00

Met. JONAH (Paffhausen) of the OCA

The Orthodox Church in America (OCA) has elected a new Metropolitan: His Eminence JONAH (Paffhausen). Its website announced:

On Wednesday, November 12, 2008, His Grace, Bishop Jonah of Fort Worth was elected Archbishop of Washington and New York and Metropolitan of All America and Canada at the 15^th All-American Council of the Orthodox Church in America.

After joining the Orthodox Church in 1978, he earned two Master's degrees from St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, then began working toward a Ph.D. at Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. (If he went to Berkeley and remained Orthodox, that is a very good sign.) He went on to live in Russia, then to join Valaam Monastery, where his spiritual father blessed him to become a priest-monk. (Imagine, a monk who belonged to an established monastery, who waited on others to confirm his call.) He has been a priest since 1995, tonsured a monk at St. Tikhon's Monastery, and helped found numerous missions.

In the spring of 2008, the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in America elevated Fr. Jonah to the rank of Archimandrite and he was given the obedience to leave the monastery and take on the responsibilities of auxiliary bishop and chancellor for the Diocese of the South.

Bishop Jonah's episcopal election took place on September 4, 2008, at an extraordinary meeting of the Holy Synod of Bishops. Earlier in the summer, his candidacy was endorsed by the Diocese of the South's Diocesan Council, shortly after Bishop Jonah had participated in the diocese's annual assembly.
Bishop Jonah was consecrated Bishop of Forth Worth and Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of the South, at St. Seraphim Cathedral, Dallas, TX, on Saturday, November 1, 2008.

Incidentally, Met. JONAH is a former Episcopalian.

Several members have provided links to media for this occasion:

Videos

Audio

He is not entering the hierarchy at a time of smooth sailing. May God lead him in this difficult time. Many years to him.

Two New Western Rite Missions in Massachusetts

2008-11-12T04:40:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, October 18, the Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate received two new missions into the fold: Emmanuel Orthodox Church in Warren, Massachusetts; and St. Stephen's Orthodox Church in Springfield, Massachusetts.

More than 100 faithful from the two churches were chrismated at Emmanuel Orthodox Church on that date, while other members who could not attend were scheduled to be chrismated later. The Very Reverend Fathers Edward Hughes and Michael Keiser presided at the combined service, which lasted 2.5 hours. Both Emmanuel and St. Stephen's were formerly part of the Charismatic Episcopal Church and have been in formation for approximately a year. Both parishes will celebrate the Liturgy of St. Gregory. Please click on the pictures below to see them full-size. (Story continues below.)

Chrismation Service of Emmanuel and St. Stephen Orthodox Churches, Oct. 18, 2008
A Side View of the Church, During the Service	More of the Congregation
The Very Rev. Fr. Edward Hughes	Entering the Kingdom of Heaven
The Very Rev. Fr. Michael Keiser	The Seal of the Gift of the Holy Spirit
Except Ye Become as a Little Child	(Some of) the Newly Chrismated Servants of God

The former CEC priest Fr. Ken DeVoie and the former CEC deacon Chris Nerreau will be ordained to the diaconate on Friday, November 21, and to the priesthood on Saturday, November 22, at St. George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Ad multos annos to all their flock, and our prayers for their impending ordinations!

(I had this information quite some time ago but wanted to make sure I could post the pictures correctly...and it took me forever. Mea culpa! I hope the new impending ordinands will forgive me. Maybe after November 22, I can receive formal absolution?)

Update: OK, let's see if the pictures work now....

A Report on the Ground

2008-11-07T10:46:00.000-08:00

Although this blog often reports on news and developments within the Western Rite, it is sometimes nice back up and read a few words from someone simply describe his or her experience worshiping according to the Western Rite. (See, for instance, this Mystery Worshipper review of Christminster Monastery.) For that reason, I was happy to find these words from an Orthodox blogger, who is not Western Rite, commenting on her experience in an Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate parish. Here are her words :

Which Jurisdiction has maintained the purist, and thus most beneficial rite? The first Orthodox Church I visited was a western rite Antiochian Church. During that service I had a deeply mystical experience that will keep me Orthodox forever, so they are “Orthodox enough” for me.

Thanks be to God He touched this blogger in his canonical Western Rite service. We wish her well. May He always hold her in His hands.

From the Mailbag: Occidentalis Misleads About Dom James Deschene's Office

2008-10-17T11:52:00.000-07:00

Q: On the Occidentalis Yahoo Group, the moderator wrote (on October 2, 2008) that Dom James Deschene uses the modern Benedictine office. He wrote that ROCOR approves the:

Tridentine mass. An edition of this service is used at Christminster (Christ the Saviour Monastery) in Hamilton, Ontario, and at the Western rite services done in Oklahoma City. I think the accompanying divine office is the modern Benedictine one, at least in the case of Christminster. (I'm not sure what form of WR divine office Fr. Anthony uses in conjunction with mass).

He contrasted this with "the pre-Reformation Benedictine Office." Does Christminster Monastery really use the modern, post-Novus Ordo Benedictine office?

A: Dom James M. Deschene, hieromonk, certainly does not use the "modern Benedictine" Office, as this individual falsely claims. The Order of St. Benedict in the Roman Catholic Church updated its Liturgy of the Hours following Vatican II and Novus Ordoized them. Neither Hieromonk James Deschene nor anyone else at Christminster Monastery, nor at its attached chapel, has anything whatsoever to do with the "modern Benedictine" office.

This is hardly unknown. I posted on this blog more than two years ago that "in addition to being the unbroken observance of the AWRV, Fr. James Deschene of Christminster Monastery in RI prays these hours." Nor has anyone associated with Christminster been other-than-forthcoming about this fact. Christminster's website notes, "the Hours of the Divine Office - the Work of God as St. Benedict calls it - are sung in chant according to the arrangement he himself set forth in his Holy Rule in the fifth century, and thus the monastic Office is one of the oldest forms of the Hours still in use."

The Breviarium Monasticum is the ancient form of the Benedictine Office, and its structure could be reconstructed by reading St. Benedict's Rule. Somehow, the moderator of the Occidentalis Yahoo Group transformed the most ancient office into "the modern" office and pinned it on Dom James. As noted, the same individual has fibbed on the same group that "Fr. James Deschene of the ROCOR in the U.S. inserts the Litany of Peace (from the Byzantine rite; "In peace let us pray to the Lord," etc.) straight into the middle of his Tridentine Liturgy." (This, too, has been pointed out as false, both here and several times on that group. If this has ever been specifcially retracted, please let me know.)

I also know Dom James does not like the label Tridentine for the simple reason that, for most people, it suggests a late usage, and that is not an accurate view, either of his use or of the Tridentine use. (He is, as usual, correct. See these two posts about attacks on the so-called "Tridentine" Mass's history and liturgics from the same source.) In fact, I know Dom James is a fine traditional Orthodox priest, who has served many long years in ROCOR, and he disdains any form of liturgical modernism or tinkering by self-appointed "scholars."

I am uncertain of the Hours Fr. Anthony Nelson of St. Benedict Orthodox Church (ROCOR) in Oklahoma City celebrates, but we wish him every success, and pray he too is not further maligned or misrepresented by members of this group. (One of its members has implied not so long ago that, due to his bi-ritual church's setup, his Eucharist was invalid and "would seem to make certain implications about the validity of Western Rite Masses in ROCOR." The moderator responded that he was "not so certain anything is implied by this placement of the altar," that Fr. Anthony thought his masses were valid, and this was an "analogue to this placement of the altar (i.e., 'altare' or holy table) in late mediaeval practice on the eve of the R/Deformation" that reflected "the context of the post-mediaeval Roman church.")

Thank you for bringing this misinformation to light. That individual's post displays either ignorance or malice toward canonical Western Rite Orthodox — in this case a long-serving hieromonk — which has long been a hallmark of many of that group's posters (except when it temporarily suits their purposes to tone things down or clam up for awhile). In general, that group is a terrific place to stay away from. As Dom James has written about these provocations, "God save us from 'liturgical wars'!"

This continued misinformation about ROCOR Western Rite monks shows, the "negative campaigning" against other Western Rite Orthodox continues. For shame.

A ROCOR WRITE Ordination

2008-10-17T10:37:00.000-07:00

I have received word that Metropolitan HILARION received Hiermonk Cuthbert (Pierce) of Holy Cross Hermitage in Jacksonville, Florida, into the into the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia by the rite of cheirothesia. The reception took place at the parish in Palm Coast, Florida, on September 29.

Fr. David (as he will now be known) is also charged with caring for Hieromonk Augustine Whitfield, who is in retirement in the area.

Verified: Six New Sermons from St. Augustine

2008-10-15T14:14:00.000-07:00

Remember those new sermons from St. Augustine I mentioned a few months ago? They have been verified as authentic. It seems that Dorothea Weber and Clemens Weidmann:

were able to prove that six of these [26 sermon] texts are by Augustine: a sermon on the martyrdom in Carthage of Perpetua and Felicity, one on the resurrection of the dead. another on Cyprian, the Carthaginian Bishop-Martyr, and three on various aspects of almsgiving.

The parchment manuscript's 264 pages are no bigger than 115 x 95 millimetres and contain about 60 sermons, most of which are already known. They are sermons by Caesarius and the Pseudo John Chrysostom, written for the Lenten Season and for several celebrations in the month of September, and an extraordinary collection of 28 sermons which can be attributed to Augustine. In addition to the abundantly documented texts, there are others that are rare and some until now completely unknown.
...Since the sermons on the Saints concern especially the martyrs venerated in Africa in Augustine's time, one may conclude that the collection was assembled in the fifth century precisely in Roman Africa and from there was moved to safety in Southern Italy, as was Augustine's entire library.
In all likelihood — following the missionary activity started by Gregory the Great — the corpus was taken to England, where it was transcribed in the 12th century. The Erfurt Code derives from this or from another similar copy. Not only is the handwriting in British style but the parallel production of certain texts and textual sequences, such as the famous Worcester Homily, also seem to be of direct or indirect English provenance.
...Three of the six new texts are to be published in the coming weeks...[and three homilies on charity] will be studied and published by the Viennese group in 2009.

St. Augustine of Hippo, ora pro nobis!

Off-Topic: Well, Here's an Irony

2008-10-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

Prominent Catholic-Hater Tony Alamo Arrested for Child Sex.

According to Alamo (pronounced "uh-LAW-mo"), once convicted for tax evasion for his money-~~grubbing~~making practices, the Vatican runs the Illuminati and forged the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion to pin its worldwide conspiracy on the Jews....

It's sick to know that while participation in, apology for, or ignoring of child molestation should forever put someone beyond the pale, this won't. Alas, such con men abound. Regardless of how pervasive their misbehavior is and how many times it has been exposed by others, or even if they have been punished for their misbehavior by others before, they may find some way to fool others into letting them persist in the ministry. They're never guilty. They speak constantly of "conspirators" who are "persecuting" them (usually by quoting their own words or drawing attention to their deeds). As noted above, these are usually themselves the biggest liars and persecutors of others. This ploy often allows them to hoodwink people into letting them go on with their sins (and sometimes crimes).

It's nice to see justice wins out, here as at Blanco "Monastery." Even the best liar can't fool all the people all the time.

BTW, is it just me or does it look like these two men were separated at birth?

Roscoe P. Coltrane

Tony Alamo

An Ancient Scottish-Norse Connection?

2008-10-14T18:07:00.001-07:00

Here's an interesting companion to this story about ancient Scotland: archeologists wonder if Norsemen evangelized Scotland before the time of St. Columba? Norsemen?? That's what they're investigating. According to the BBC:

A group of archaeologists are trying to establish if Norsemen brought Christianity to Caithness before St Columba arrived on Iona.
The question has arisen after a dig at an ancient church site at the coastal village of Dunbeath.
Pottery dating back to the 6th Century has recently been found in the area.
A University of Nottingham team is to carry out further exploration which they hope could show evidence of an even earlier Christian church.
Used continuously
The dig site is on croft land held by archaeologist Nan Bethune and her husband George.
Mrs Bethune said she was confident further investigation would show remains of a wall will be shown to be those of an early church.
St Columba left Ireland for Scotland in AD 563 and went on to found Manachain monastery on Iona, in Argyll.

Archeology is never dull, at any rate.

Recent Saints Who Supported the Western Rite

2008-09-28T09:33:00.000-07:00

Recent Orthodox Saints Who Supported the Western Rite:

This omits St. John of Chicago (Kochurov), who accompanied St. Tikhon on many missionary journeys to Episcopalian churches and was part of the "Fond du Lac Circus" photo. (He was the beardless sainted priest.) St. John could be assumed to support his hierarch's Western Rite initiative -- but to my knowledge he did not specifically say so. (If anyone has information to the contrary, please let me know.)

This list also overlooks the uncanonized divine healer Dom Denis Chambault, a holy monk who celebrated the Benedictine monastic office and the Liturgy of St. Gregory in France under the patronage of St. John the Wonderworker.

Orthodox Saints Who Opposed the Western Rite:

(This space intentionally left blank.)

Take your choice.

The Founding Hierarch of the OCA on the Western Rite

2008-09-21T05:19:00.000-07:00

Abp. Platon (Rozhdestvensky), founding hierarch of the OCA.

As many of my readers know, earlier this month the Orthodox Chuch in America (OCA) announced the retirement of Met. HERMAN, with Abp. DMITRI of Dallas acting as locum tenens (assisted by Abp. SERAPHIM). On 9/11, they reported a new Metropolitan will be elected at the upcoming All-American Council in Pittsburgh this November.

As I noted in response to a question from a reader of this blog, the OCA presently has no Western Rite parishes. One knowledgeable source told me the OCA had given a definite (official or unofficial?) no to the idea quite a few years ago. At a minimum, there are some within the jurisdiction who oppose the idea. This is not only at odds with its history within Russian Orthodoxy, but (if true) it is at odds with its own history.

Archbishop Platon (Rozhdestvensky), the founding hierarch of the Metropolia (now the OCA), weighed in on the issue in a different way. Speaking to an Episcopalian audience, he told the group he longed to see a Western Orthodox Church in North America. Although his much later attempts to acquire ROCOR property via lawsuit (and other actions) made him an anti-hero, I present his words here for the benefit of those in the OCA who remain virulently opposed to the Western Rite — and those who would prefer the OCA have a Western Rite like that of the Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate. And this statement has significance for all North American Orthodox (see below). He spoke to the Church House in Philadelphia on February 27, 1911:

As long ago as 1904, the Committee of the Holy Synod for the furtherance of the question of Church Union published its Notes on the American Book of Common Prayer. These Notes may be taken as the Russian Orthodox view of your "wedding garment."

I do not know whether you are acquainted with these Notes. If so, you must certainly know how friendly and sincere is our feeling toward you; you must know what is our view of your "wedding garment," and how eagerly we wish they were not only like ours, but the same as ours; and yet that, at the same time, it should be becoming to your own Christian features.
How I wish that, at this moment, you not only understood me, but that your souls might be close to me. How I wish that we were sheep of the same Orthodox fold, and that it were impossible to apply to us the words oves non audiunt vocem alienorum.

My brethren in Christ, our life is moved by ideas, and not by exterior circumstances and interests, which also include both our national and our individual peculiarities. So our nearness will be realized only when our religious ideas are not only not alien, but are near and akin.
What is most important of all! Christ said: "If ye continue in my word...ye shall know the truth" (John viii, 31-32). In this rests the substance of our faith, and the substance of the question of the Union of the Churches. I find more religious significance in my Church, while you find more in yours. Why is this so? Because in my Church I want to pray, finding there alone the familiar conditions which best correspond to my mood of prayer. Why is this? For the reason that a Russian church is one thing, while an American church is another. You sit in your churches; we stand in ours. And in order to bring about union, it is not necessary to carry the pews from your Church to ours, forcing you to stand and us to sit. We shall not sit, and you, from lack of habit, could not remain standing through such long services as ours.

But Union does not demand this. Otherwise the pews might become the barrier over which the Orthodox could not step into your Church, or you into ours.
...It would be difficult to bring about a union which would enable you and ourselves to feel at home in each others' churches. It would be hard for you to transform yourselves into Russian Orthodox, and for the Orthodox to become Episcopalians.
But is this necessary? If until the eleventh century there existed an Orthodox Eastern Church and an Orthodox Western Church, why should this be impossible now, in our day?
Could we not think of the parallel existence of the two Churches, the Russian Orthodox and the Episcopal, if the former proclaims the latter its beloved sister, whose faith conforms to its own? This can take place, when your Church removes all the dogmatical differences separating it from the Orthodox Church, which has preserved pure, primitive Christianity. Until this happens, though I have friends among your Bishops whom I value highly and for whom I have a profound respect, as a faithful son of my Church, knowing its dogmas and devoted to its ritual with my whole soul, I cannot admit of any compromises which would entail the smallest and seemingly most insignificant belittling of our Orthodoxy. I am sure you yourselves could not wish this.
You will illumine your dogmatical digressions by the light of the science of history, and will see for yourselves what is to be done. When we agree concerning dogmas, there will be no need to speak of rites. They will not prevent us from being one in Christ and having the same belief in Christ. Only the more so, because both among you and among us there are many people who wish to do so.
...You already have an army ready and able to demolish the fortress of disagreement, the division which rends the seamless cloak of the Church of Christ. But this army still needs a fuller knowledge of the breadth and power of the Church of Christ in that epoch when it was not divided into factions. In my eyes, gentlemen, if you really possessed this knowledge, without any doubt you would have confessed in the face of all the world, with one mind and voice, that our Orthodox Eastern Church is the Church founded on earth by our Lord Jesus Christ "for us, men, and for our salvation." It is also beyond doubt that in that case you would have expressed the desire to be members of the Orthodox Western American Church.
May the Lord God grant to us the possibility to see the blessed day when we can give to you, Americans, the same name of Orthodox Christians. That would be a great mercy from God both for ourselves and for you. Let us believe that it will come, and let us pray that it may come soon. (Emphases added above.)

So, the founding hierarch of the OCA, Abp. Platon, prayed for the establishment of a Western Rite; he demanded only that the Episcopalians whom he addressed "remove all dogmatical differences separating it from the Orthodox Church" and modify their liturgy according to the Notes on the American Book of Common Prayer. (This has been accomplished in the Liturgy of St. Tikhon celebrated by some in the Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate.) In this, he is in line with St. Tikhon (Bellavin), St. Nicholas of Japan, St. Raphael of Brooklyn, and others. (Indeed, it appears St. Nicholas of Japan viewed the external rite of ordination as "valid" and merely opposed confused Anglican theology.) Note also Abp. Platon's allusion to the "parallel existence of two churches," meaning when these Western Christians accepted the full Orthodox faith and made necessary changes to their liturgical practice, they would retain their own Western Rite hierarchy.

To those outside the OCA, I note his words were spoken in 1911, during his first term in America, before the Bolshevik Revolution and 15 years before the split of the Metropolia and ROCOR. (In between, he had served as a member of the Holy Synod of Russia.) As such, his words were those of a bishop representing North American Orthodox regardless of later jurisdictional identity.

Now that the OCA is making other needed changes, it is time to follow the example of the 20th century saints listed above, as well as the founding hierarch of their own jurisdiction, and allow for a Western Rite like that already approved by her sister jurisdictions.

Growing in Wisdom

2008-09-20T05:03:00.000-07:00

Our good friends at the Journey to Orthodoxy blog posted a fantastic entry about how increased wisdom can lead us to change our minds on certain topics. His post is meant to show Protestants that, though they are now certain of sola sciptura, sola fide, and other doctrines, so once was he. But "to be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant," as one can find fewer and fewer examples of Protestant ideals the further one goes back — and one has not gone far at all before they disappear altogether. If one is honest, upon drinking history a bit deeper, he will change his mind to reflect what he has learned.

His choice of video illustrates his point brilliantly:

Read his whole post. This was a great insight.

Video: Constructing a Western Rite Altar

2008-09-19T11:03:00.000-07:00

The folks at St. Andrew Antiochian Orthodox Church (Western Rite Vicariate) in Oklahoma City have posted an edifying video on their multimedia page: the construction of their altar. According to the website:

Subdeacon John Dutcher and his wife Nila, of St. Elijah Antiochian Orthodox Church, constructed the new altar for St. Andrew Church. They put together this video of the construction.

It is a beautiful altar, a work of art.

I rejoice in posting images of work, building, or renovation of Western Rite churches for reasons I wrote about here : they are constructive in the most literal sense of the word. May God reward Subdeacon Dutcher for his work.

Godspeed to our good friend Fr. Mark Wallace, his family, and all his parishoners as they gather around this altar to partake of the Body and Blood of Christ.

(See the whole video here.)

Update: Fr. Mark Wallace sent us this note.

Thank you for posting this video!

FYI - Subdeacon John Dutcher fell asleep in the Lord on 8 August, 2008. You can learn more about him by visiting their family blog at www.dutcherfamily.blogspot.com.

As of this posting, the community of St. Andrew has yet to celebrate its first Mass on this altar. We are still worshiping in the chapel of St. Elijah's. Currently, we are in negotiations to lease some commercial space for our congregation. As we progress towards that goal, I will keep you informed.

May Godspeed your negotiations, Fr. Wallace. I did not realize Subdeacon John Dutcher fell asleep in the Lord. May he rest in peace, and may God be with all those dear to him. This video now serves another purpose: it documents one of the good deeds that preceded him in Heaven.

The Ravages of Relevance

2008-09-16T11:24:00.000-07:00

Like other examples of this genre, I thought for certain this had to be a parody. I'm told it is not. Behold the ravages of "relevant" ministry:

Yeah, this is what all the kids are into....

Update: A poster notes this video is produced by The Way International. For more information on that group, see the comments and read this profile. Also, the video disappeared from YouTube because The Way Intl. has asserted a copyright claim. However, one can view it (out of morbid curiosity) here.

9/11: Seven Years On

2008-09-11T04:26:00.000-07:00

In remembrance of the seventh anniversary of 9/11, we offer these humbles thoughts and prayers:

Into paradise may the angels lead thee:
At thy coming may the Martyrs receive thee,
And bring thee into the holy city Jerusalem.
May the Choir of Angels receive thee,
And with Lazarus, one poor, mayest thou have eternal rest.

In paradisum from The Orthodox Ritual

Rest eternal grant unto them, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon them.

And for those who perpetrated this act of terrorism in the name of their God, here's one bit from a portion of Evening Prayer of the "Forms of Prayer to be Used in Families," which the Holy Synod of Russia decreed needed no changes on doctrinal grounds (although I would recommend adding invocation of the saints and angels to the prayers, even in the short form):

Accept, O Lord, our intercessions for all mankind. Let the light of thy Gospel shine upon all nations; and may as many as have received it, live as becomes it. Be gracious unto thy Church; and grant that every member of the same, in his vocation and ministry, may serve thee faithfully. Bless all in authority over us; and so rule their hearts and strengthen their hands, that they may punish wickedness and vice, and maintain thy true religion and virtue. Send down thy blessings, temporal and spiritual, upon all our relations, friends, and neighbours. Reward all who have done us good, and pardon all those who have done or wish us evil, and give them repentance and better minds. Be merciful to all who are in any trouble; and do thou, the God of pity, administer to them according to their several necessities; for his sake who went about doing good, thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

May God be with us all, lay to rest those who perished, comfort those who continue to mourn, pacify the anger and hatred of those who rejoice, turn the hearts of those who wish or plan to perpetrate similar deeds, and reign in the hearts and minds of all His children, to our benefit and our glory. Through Jesus Christ His only Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, world without end. Amen.

(Yes, it's early here; no, I couldn't sleep.)

St. Augustine on the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

2008-09-08T14:23:00.000-07:00

Dearly beloved brethren, the day for which we have longed, the Feast-day of the Blessed and Worshipful and Alway-Virgin Mary, that day is come. Let our land laugh and sing with merriment, bathed in the glory of this great Virgin's rising. She is the flower of the fields on which the priceless lily of the valleys hath blossomed. This is she whose delivery changed the nature that we draw from our first parents, and cleansed away their offence. At her that dolorous sentence which was pronounced over Eve ended its course ; to her it was never said : In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children. She brought forth a Child, even the Lord, but she brought him forth, not in sorrow, but in joy.

Eve wept, but Mary laughed. Eve's womb was big with tears, but Mary's womb was big with gladness. Eve gave birth to a sinner, but Mary gave birth to the sinless One. The mother of our race brought punishment into the world, but the Mother of our Lord brought salvation into the world. Eve was the foundress of sin, but Mary was the foundress of righteousness. Eve welcomed death, but Mary helped in life. Eve smote, but Mary healed. For Eve's disobedience, Mary offered obedience ; and for Eve's unbelief, Mary offered faith.

Let Mary now make a loud noise upon the organ, and between its quick notes let the rattling of the Mother's timbrel be heard. Let the gladsome choirs sing with her, and their sweet hymns mingle with the changing musick. Hearken to what a song her timbrel will make accompaniment. She saith : My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden, for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is Mighty hath magnified me. The new miracle of Mary's delivery hath effaced the curse of the frail backslider, and the singing of Mary hath silenced the wailing of Eve.
— St. Augustine of Hippo, from the Second Nocturne of Matins.

A Byzantine Word About Uber-Byzantines

2008-09-06T19:32:00.000-07:00

A word on Convert Fanaticism Syndrome^TM from the Orthodox England website:

Then there are the people who have been attracted to the Church through a discovery on holiday. I call these people 'Holiday Orthodox'. Their attraction is often not actually to Christ, but to a foreign and exotic culture - the more exotic the better. Living very humdrum lives, the Orthodox Church gives them something to dream about, usually their next holiday in Crete or wherever....

Then there are the people who come with their own agenda, often 'know it alls', who have read every book under the sun, but still have no idea of the letter A of the Christian ABC. And they come with demands which they wish to impose! 'Yes, I want to join the Orthodox Church, but only on condition that it has first been 'reformed' and 'modernised''! 'Yes, this is good, but I want to add in some Western hymns before the Canon'!, or 'I will only join the Orthodox Church when it has the same Easter as my Aunt Susan who is a Methodist'!, or 'Everything is perfect except that you use too many candles. Take away the candles and I will join the Orthodox Church'. 'I will only be Orthodox if you have an icon of St Francis of Assisi'! 'I will join the Orthodox Church on condition that everybody votes New Labour and goes on holiday to Tuscany'! [Or, "Have you seen the Missal I've put together? It's so much better than the approved Western Rite Orthodox...."- BJ] These are perhaps extreme examples, but they are all real examples. They are all examples of a lack of humility. No priest should receive such people into the Church for the simple reason that they do not love and accept the Church and Her Master Christ...

The attachment to externals can extend to foreign clothes, language, food and folklore. I remember in one Russian church in Belgium, you immediately knew who the converts were; the men had nineteenth-century Russian peasant beards and the women wore dowdy long skirts and seemed to be wearing tablecloths on their heads. You knew who the Russians were because they dressed normally. In a Greek church here, there were two priests, a Greek and a convert. You immediately knew who the convert was because he wore huge wide-sleeved robes and an enormous chimney-pot on his head. The Greek just wore an undercassock.

In another Russian church, the Russians always spoke about singing, Christmas and Easter, but the 'converts' (and that is what they were) spoke about 'chanting' and 'The Nativity' and 'Paskha'...

Some people can be so full of themselves! Some people can be very self-important and very puffed-up. They will first tell you - if you let them - their detailed life-stories and then all the latest gossip about Priest X, Bishop Y, and then Jurisdiction Z. Even though they do not know the ABC of the children's Faith. The thing is though, that Christianity, and that is what we are about, is about none of these things....

St. Nikolai (Velimirovich) on Eastern Orthodox Statues: St. Veronica

2008-09-02T21:50:00.000-07:00

That story on the ancient Portmahomack monastery in Scotland mentioned sculptures/statues. Here's a tidbit from the Prologue of Ochrid by St. Nikolai of Zhica/South Canaan, which can be found on the website of Archangel Books, a conservative book seller affiliated with ROCOR. It quotes St. Nickolai in this entry:

St. Veronica with Holy Napkin (Russian Silk)
Commemorated on July 12/25 According to Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich in The Prologue from Ohrid: This is the woman with the issue of blood, whom the Lord healed (Matt. 9:20). In gratitude to the Lord her healer, Veronica caused a statue of the Lord Jesus to be made, before which she prayed to God. By tradition, this statue was preserved up to the time of Julian the Apostate, when it was altered to become a statue of Zeus. This is one of the very rare occasions that a holy statue has been used in the Eastern Church. As is known, this later became a common custom in the Western Churches. St Veronica remained faithful to Christ till death, and entered peacefully into rest. Veronica / Veroniki literally translates "true image" or "true icon."

You can also see the full day's saints here. You can also skip to any given day in the Prologue through the ROCOR archdiocese of Australia and New Zealand website. Both are according to the Old Calendar. Of course, we've found (and continue to find) that Orthodox statues were not as rare as perhaps he thought.

B.C., NOT "BCE"

2008-08-30T23:54:00.000-07:00

As a completely off-topic aside, please, in discussing historical events that occurred more than 2008.75 years ago, let's maintain the term "B.C.," not "B.C.E." B.C. means "Before Christ"; in recent times, this has been changed to "B.C.E.," meaning "Before the Common Era." But what do we hold "in common" with those who deny Christ's Birth? What exactly did the Incarnation of Christ establish in "common" with non-believers, except the possibility that we would all become believers? Somehow, I don't think that's what the term's popularizers meant. The requisite division driven into humanity by the great mystery of the Second Person of the Godhead taking Flesh, though lamentable, should not surprise us. It was Christ Who said:

Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. (St. Matthew 10:34-36).

But B.C. is not PC; the PC is BCE. So, throw out the PC "BCE" and go with B.C.

BJ, over-and-out.

Unearthing Orthodox Scotland

2008-08-29T13:12:00.000-07:00

Archeologists are analyzing a dig of Portmahomack, a pre-Schism monastery in Scotland possibly founded by St. Columba. The British media has reported a number of their surprised findings, including the realization that the Picts were not exactly vicious savages:

A study of one the most important archaeological discoveries in Scotland for 30 years, a Pictish monastery at Portmahomack on the Tarbat peninsula in Easter Ross, has found that they were capable of great art, learning and the use of complex architectural principles.
The monastery – an enclosure centred on a church thought to have housed about 150 monks and workers – was similar to St Columba's religious centre at Iona and there is evidence they would have made gospel books similar to the Book of Kells and religious artefacts such as chalices to supply numerous "daughter monasteries".
And, in a discovery described as "astonishing, mind-blowing" by architectural historians, it appears that the people who built the monastery did so using the proportions of "the Golden Section", or "Divine Proportion" as it became known during the Renaissance hundreds of years later. This ratio of dimensions, 1.618 to one, appears in nature, such as in the spiral of seashells, and the faces of people considered beautiful, such as Marilyn Monroe. It can be seen in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, the Alhambra palace of Granada in Spain, the Acropolis in Athens and the Egyptian Pyramids, but was thought to have been too advanced for the Picts.

Martin Carver, Archeology professor at York University, adds, "They were the most extraordinary artists....Even the Anglo-Saxons didn't do stone-carving as well as the Picts did...The most important piece had a Latin inscription. That's as common as muck in the Mediterranean, but extremely rare in Scotland."

The story continues:

The monastery at Portmahomack suffered a major fire in the ninth century and several stone sculptures were smashed, suggesting it was sacked by an invading force, likely to be Vikings intent on expanding their territories in northern Scotland. The site continued to be occupied but at this point evidence of a monastic settlement disappears.

So, sculptures were an Orthodox part of the Pictish Church and the pagan Viking iconoclasts did the work of Satan by smashing them.

Carver adds, "Portmahomack got burnt down pretty definitively round about 820. The idea is they were under new masters. It could be the Norse or the Men of Moray, MacBeth and his family. I think Portmahomack was captured by the Men of Moray. The Norse wanted it badly but they didn't get it. There is no Norse material there. There was no more vellum-making and sculpture and it stopped being a monastery. In the ninth to 11th centuries, they are making metal work, but that's the real Dark Age."

Portmahomack: Monastery of the Picts is published by Edinburgh University Press.

A highly interesting report.

(Hat tip: Way of the Fathers)

Pelosi's Patristics

2008-08-26T12:49:00.000-07:00

Raise Your Hand if You're a Bad Catholic

(And before I get hate mail, Hitler was a nominal member of the Roman Catholic Church to his death, although he was a practicing pagan and Occultist.)

Forgive the "political" post, but a politician stepped into our territory. Our fearless Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, claimed on Meet the Press that Christianity has no clear teaching on when life begins, and hence on abortion, and St. Augustine denied life began until the end of the first trimester. Tom Brokaw asked her what she would tell Barack Obama if he asked her when human life has its genesis:

I would say that as an ardent, practicing Catholic, this is an issue that I have studied for a long time. And what I know is, over the centuries, the doctors of the church have not been able to make that definition. And Senator--St. Augustine said at three months. We don't know. The point is, is that it shouldn't have an impact on the woman's right to choose...over the history of the church, this is an issue of controversy.

She went on to say Christianity has believed life began at conception for "like maybe 50 years or something like that." You can see the disgusting display here.

If she has studied this issue "for a long time," she would have known the Church Fathers had an unbroken teaching on this subject for 2,000 years. Yes, it is true that St. Augustine of Hippo made a distinction between a child before its "quickening" (the time it began to move) and afterwards; so, too, did Roman Catholic theologian Thomas Aquinas, who is always cited in these arguments. However, none believed abortion before that time was blameless (!). More importantly, there was a long tradition in the Church that corrected these unrepresentative views, going back to the earliest days of Christianity:

The Didache
"The second commandment of the teaching: You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not seduce boys. You shall not commit fornication. You shall not steal. You shall not practice magic. You shall not use potions. You shall not procure [an] abortion, nor destroy a newborn child" (Didache 2:1–2 [A.D. 70]).

The Letter of Barnabas
"The way of light, then, is as follows. If anyone desires to travel to the appointed place, he must be zealous in his works. The knowledge, therefore, which is given to us for the purpose of walking in this way, is the following...Thou shalt not slay the child by procuring abortion; nor, again, shalt thou destroy it after it is born" (Letter of Barnabas 19 [A.D. 74]).

The Apocalypse of Peter
"And near that place I saw another strait place...and there sat women...And over against them many children who were born to them out of due time sat crying. And there came forth from them rays of fire and smote the women in the eyes. And these were the accursed who conceived and caused abortion" (The Apocalypse of Peter 25 [A.D. 137]).

Athenagoras
"What man of sound mind, therefore, will affirm, while such is our character, that we are murderers?...[W]hen we say that those women who use drugs to bring on abortion commit murder, and will have to give an account to God for the abortion, on what principle should we commit murder? For it does not belong to the same person to regard the very fetus in the womb as a created being, and therefore an object of God’s care, and when it has passed into life, to kill it; and not to expose an infant, because those who expose them are chargeable with child-murder, and on the other hand, when it has been reared to destroy it" (A Plea for the Christians 35 [A.D. 177]).

Tertullian
"In our case, a murder being once for all forbidden, we may not destroy even the fetus in the womb, while as yet the human being derives blood from the other parts of the body for its sustenance. To hinder a birth is merely a speedier man-killing; nor does it matter whether you take away a life that is born, or destroy one that is coming to birth. That is a man which is going to be one; you have the fruit already in its seed" (Apology 9:8 [A.D. 197]).

"Among surgeons’ tools there is a certain instrument, which is formed with a nicely-adjusted flexible frame for opening the uterus first of all and keeping it open; it is further furnished with an annular blade, by means of which the limbs [of the child] within the womb are dissected with anxious but unfaltering care; its last appendage being a blunted or covered hook, wherewith the entire fetus is extracted by a violent delivery.

"There is also [another instrument in the shape of] a copper needle or spike, by which the actual death is managed in this furtive robbery of life: They give it, from its infanticide function, the name of embruosphaktes, [meaning] "the slayer of the infant," which of course was alive...

"[The doctors who performed abortions] all knew well enough that a living being had been conceived, and [they] pitied this most luckless infant state, which had first to be put to death, to escape being tortured alive" (The Soul 25 [A.D. 210]).

"Now we allow that life begins with conception because we contend that the soul also begins from conception; life taking its commencement at the same moment and place that the soul does" (ibid., 27).

"The law of Moses, indeed, punishes with due penalties the man who shall cause abortion [Ex. 21:22–24]" (ibid., 37).

Minucius Felix
"There are some [pagan] women who, by drinking medical preparations, extinguish the source of the future man in their very bowels and thus commit a parricide before they bring forth. And these things assuredly come down from the teaching of your [false] gods...To us [Christians] it is not lawful either to see or hear of homicide" (Octavius 30 [A.D. 226]).

Hippolytus
"Women who were reputed to be believers began to take drugs to render themselves sterile, and to bind themselves tightly so as to expel what was being conceived, since they would not, on account of relatives and excess wealth, want to have a child by a slave or by any insignificant person. See, then, into what great impiety that lawless one has proceeded, by teaching adultery and murder at the same time!" (Refutation of All Heresies [A.D. 228]).

Council of Ancyra
"Concerning women who commit fornication, and destroy that which they have conceived, or who are employed in making drugs for abortion, a former decree excluded them until the hour of death, and to this some have assented. Nevertheless, being desirous to use somewhat greater lenity, we have ordained that they fulfill ten years [of penance], according to the prescribed degrees" (canon 21 [A.D. 314]).

Basil the Great
"Let her that procures abortion undergo ten years’ penance, whether the embryo were perfectly formed, or not" (First Canonical Letter, canon 2 [A.D. 374]).

"He that kills another with a sword, or hurls an axe at his own wife and kills her, is guilty of willful murder; not he who throws a stone at a dog, and unintentionally kills a man, or who corrects one with a rod, or scourge, in order to reform him, or who kills a man in his own defense, when he only designed to hurt him. But the man, or woman, is a murderer that gives a philtrum, if the man that takes it dies upon it; so are they who take medicines to procure abortion; and so are they who kill on the highway, and rapparees" (ibid., canon 8).

John Chrysostom
"Wherefore I beseech you, flee fornication...Why sow where the ground makes it its care to destroy the fruit?—where there are many efforts at abortion?—where there is murder before the birth? For even the harlot you do not let continue a mere harlot, but make her a murderess also. You see how drunkenness leads to prostitution, prostitution to adultery, adultery to murder; or rather to a something even worse than murder. For I have no name to give it, since it does not take off the thing born, but prevents its being born. Why then do thou abuse the gift of God, and fight with his laws, and follow after what is a curse as if a blessing, and make the chamber of procreation a chamber for murder, and arm the woman that was given for childbearing unto slaughter? For with a view to drawing more money by being agreeable and an object of longing to her lovers, even this she is not backward to do, so heaping upon thy head a great pile of fire. For even if the daring deed be hers, yet the causing of it is thine" (Homilies on Romans 24 [A.D. 391]).

Jerome
"I cannot bring myself to speak of the many virgins who daily fall and are lost to the bosom of the Church, their mother...Some go so far as to take potions, that they may insure barrenness, and thus murder human beings almost before their conception. Some, when they find themselves with child through their sin, use drugs to procure abortion, and when, as often happens, they die with their offspring, they enter the lower world laden with the guilt not only of adultery against Christ but also of suicide and child murder" (Letters 22:13 [A.D. 396]).

The Apostolic Constitutions
"Thou shalt not use magic. Thou shalt not use witchcraft; for he says, ‘You shall not suffer a witch to live’ [Ex. 22:18]. Thou shall not slay thy child by causing abortion, nor kill that which is begotten...[I]f it be slain, [it] shall be avenged, as being unjustly destroyed" (Apostolic Constitutions 7:3 [A.D. 400]).

We could add the testimony of St. Gregory of Nyssa, who denied the "quickening" theory: "There is no question about that which is bred in the uterus, both growing, and moving from place to place. It remains, therefore, that we must think that the point of commencement of existence is one and the same for body and soul." (On the Soul and the Resurrection [A.D. 379-80].) This last passage goes on quite a long while.

If Aristibule reads this, maybe he can add more specificity, but I know the Irish penitentials penanced the sin of abortion many, many times. If I remember right, at least one canon prescribed 12 years bread-and-water as a result of an abortion, though others varied merely 1-3 years.

The Church has consistently taught life begins at the moment of conception, and abortion is murder. That's why the question of abortion is not really a political issue at all but one of Orthodox doctrine and morality. One Nancy Pelosi failed miserably. I am not convinced she actually believes this assessment, much less that her screwed up theology has anything to do with her position on abortion. But she is complicit in the murder of millions, and has unconscionably used the saints of the Church for cover. The Catholic Epistle of St. James promises a heavy punishment will be forthcoming in eternity.

As I wrote earlier, this is one of the reasons we don't rely on merely one Church Father for an opinion but rely on the whole mind of the Church. In individual writings (including St. Gregory of Nyssa), mistakes sometimes occur. And sometimes, as in this case, those mistakes give people a convenient cover to believe and act as they wanted to all along.

Mystery Worshipper: Oratory of Our Lady of Glastonbury/Christminster Monastery

2008-08-24T05:51:00.000-07:00

For those who can't be at a Western Orthodox church this morning, here is a visitor's account of worshiping at the Oratory of Our Lady of Glastonbury on Holy Saturday. The oratory is the chapel of Christ the Savior Monastery ("Christminster") a Benedictine monastery under the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and headed by Dom James M. Deschene. It is located in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Oratory of Our Lady of Glastonbury, at Christ the Savior Monastery, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Mystery Worshipper: LQ.
The church: Oratory of Our Lady of Glastonbury, at Christ the Savior Monastery, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Denomination: Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia.
The building: The monastery, of which the oratory is the monastic chapel, is also known as Christminster. It is a single plain brick building on a residential lot. It is extremely small, and there are no grounds around it to speak of. There are separate entrances for the oratory and the monastic residence itself. The left entrance leads into the bookroom and the chapel. The chapel is small, and looks like it could seat about 30 people in the pews. It features a small, traditionally-appointed chancel with an eastward facing altar and an ambo. The bookroom features publications of the Lancelot Andrewes Press, the publishing arm of the Fellowship of Saint Dunstan, a non-profit organisation for the advancement of historic Christian orthodoxy.
The church: The Oratory is a Benedictine Western Rite Orthodox chapel. The monastic community consists of two professed brothers and is primarily contemplative, but has an oblate programme for Orthodox Christians called to participate in the monastic life in a Western Rite context, but not called to religious profession as such. On the day of my visit, the small congregation appeared to be made up entirely of converts from Roman Catholicism and Anglicanism.
The neighbourhood: The monastery sits on Cannon Street East, a long, rather seedy thoroughfare comprised mainly of car dealerships, service stations, and sad-looking duplexes. I walked from number one to number 390 (the monastery) without passing a single Tim Hortons coffee franchise – surely this is wilderness according to the Canadian definition.
The cast: The Rt Revd Dom James M. Deschene, Abbot, was the celebrant.
The date & time: Saturday, 26 April 2008, 7.30pm.

What was the name of the service?
The Great Vigil and First Mass of Easter, with the Office of Lauds and the Sacrament of Confirmation.

How full was the building?
There were nine of us in the intimate nave. I had a pew to myself.

Did anyone welcome you personally?
Everyone welcomed me personally, including a young married couple who were being received into the Orthodox Church that night.

Was your pew comfortable?
It was possibly the best pew I’ve ever experienced. However, there were great stretches where it was not used, which tested the strength of my legs.

How would you describe the pre-service atmosphere?
It was very friendly and there was a real sense of fellowship. We waited in the bookroom while Dom James finished hearing confessions. Everyone present took time to introduce themselves to me, solicit (kindly) information about me, and in a couple of cases, tell the stories of their journey to Orthodoxy. I made it clear that I was Anglican, not Orthodox, yet was not made to feel the liberal Anglican bogeyman. Then Dom James came in and I introduced myself to him. It turns out that we have a mutual friend! Dom James invited me, and everyone else, to read one or two lessons since the twelve Old Testament prophecies outnumbered the congregation. I inquired about receiving communion and was told that I was welcome to receive a blessing.

What were the exact opening words of the service?
"Let us pray."

What books did the congregation use during the service?
A homemade leaflet entitled "Holy Saturday" contained almost everything I needed to know. At a couple of points, I needed to refer to the Orthodox Missal, which contains the Western Rite liturgy, of which there were copies in the pews.

What musical instruments were played?
None at all. The plainsong of the service and the two hymns were hauntingly sung a cappella.

Did anything distract you?
The lectern from which the prophecies were read was at the rear of the chapel, and it was tempting to turn my head to hear the source of the voices (that is, when I wasn’t reading myself). There was a spate of sirens at one point which could very clearly be heard from outside. I made a mental note to take a cab back to the bus terminal that night.

Was the worship stiff-upper-lip, happy clappy, or what?
Christminster’s website explains that their liturgy is similar to what one would have found in a Roman Catholic or Anglo-Catholic parish before the Second Vatican Council. That about sums it up. It was not a "spiky" experience, given the intimacy of the occasion, but it was certainly formal and reverent. The service began in the bookroom with the blessing of the new fire, and continued with a procession into the chapel, followed by the longest version of the Exsultet I have ever heard. The prophecies were read, the litany of the saints sung, and the sacrament of confirmation administered. We renewed our baptismal vows, were sprinkled, and then sang a psalm before the mass proper began. Parts of the liturgy were sung that I have never heard sung before: the prayer known as the Secret that precedes the eucharistic prayer; the "Lord, I am not worthy" prayer before communion; and so on. There was the occasional use of Latin, including a congregational Regina Caeli to plainsong. The service ended with lauds, which consisted of a single psalm with antiphon and the Benedictus.

Exactly how long was the sermon?
5 minutes.

On a scale of 1-10, how good was the preacher?
8 – Dom James spoke with a very comforting tone.

In a nutshell, what was the sermon about?
He welcomed the confirmands and assured us that our sins had been defeated by Christ.

Which part of the service was like being in heaven?
The joy and trust of the two people being confirmed into the Orthodox faith.

And which part was like being in... er... the other place?
The saddest manifestation of our Christian faith is the fact that we cannot all join as one around the altar of the Lord. I long for the day when that will be possible, as I imagine all Christians do. Meanwhile, I must say that my irregular status was handled with acute pastoral panache.

What happened when you hung around after the service looking lost?
Not a chance. We all began to "lighten it up" after the Lauds had concluded, but were reminded that the house custom was to "take it outside." And so we retired back to the bookroom for further conversation and the repast.

How would you describe the after-service coffee?
There was a very respectable-looking spread of fruits, cheeses, cakes and cookies – but nothing to drink! As I was ready to leave, a discussion about whether to make coffee or tea was, erm, brewing. I thanked everyone and called my cab. I would have liked to stay and bask in the afterglow, but the liturgy had gone on for over three hours and I had to catch the last bus home or risk being stranded in a strange city. I handed a monk an envelope containing a donation and my Mystery Worship calling card, and promised to return. Settled in the back seat of my cab, I made a mental note to purchase a copy of Ritual Notes for myself.

How would you feel about making this church your regular (where 10 = ecstatic, 0 = terminal)?
7 – While I wouldn’t seek membership in the congregation, I would gladly attend vespers and benediction there every Sunday if I lived in Hamilton.

Did the service make you feel glad to be a Christian?
Ecstatic – and even, dare I say, a little envious of Orthodox Christians.

What one thing will you remember about all this in seven days' time?
The solemnity and joy with which a gathering of two or three can proclaim the Lord’s death and resurrection until he comes.

All-in-all, this looks like a very positive impression. Nothing could be done about the only real complaint, that he could not receive the Eucharist, and this person yet left "ecstatic" with the sober joy of the Latin tradition. He did not immediately seek to join the Orthodox Church...but not all instantly do. This is a wonderful report about the leadership, and laity, of Our Lady of Glastonbury Oratory. Deo gratias et soli Deo gloria. Thanks to a Canadian reader for sending this our way!

A Question from Finland: "Mass" or "Liturgy"?

2008-08-23T07:02:00.000-07:00

I was interested to get this e-mail from a writer in Finland:

Q: Do the western rite orthodox use the term "mass" or "liturgy"?

It's quite sad that the western rite isn't in wider use. I'm considering joining in the Orthodox Church and I'm accustomed to western masses. I wish the Church of Finland would also have a western rite...

A: Thank you so much for your question! I will try my best to answer you, but let me begin with this: if a Western Rite is not available, please don't let that deter you from joining the Orthodox Church. We are Orthodox first and celebrants of a canonically approved expression of Orthodoxy second. The Orthodox Church is your heart's home; I hope you'll investigate it carefully, whether you have the ability to worship in the Western Rite or not. And you might always prays Western Rite prayers in your home; the Monastic Diurnal and Monastic Breviary Matins are available from this distributor, and you can download St. Tikhon Rite Matins and Vespers (with music) here.

The answer to your question is, yes: the Eucharistic service in the Western Rite is called both "Mass" and "Liturgy." True, the term "Mass" is more common in the Western Rite and "Divine Liturgy" more common for the Byzantine, but one may hear the Western Rite service called the Divine Liturgy — e.g., "The Liturgy of St. Gregory," "St. Tikhon's Liturgy." Technically, the Orthodox Missal is the approved text of the Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate, and it uses the term "The Mass according to the Rite of Saint (Gregory/Tikhon)." My own preference is to call the Western Eucharistic service Mass and the Byzantine Liturgy, but I'm ambivalent either way.

One sometimes finds both terms used for the Byzantine rite, as well. For instance, the Byzantine service book Divine Prayers and Services by Fr. Seraphim Nassar (sometimes lovingly called "the five-pounder") regularly uses the term "Mass" instead of "Liturgy." (It also refers to Lent as "Quadragesima"; confusing, since that term, and all "The Gesima Sundays," have another meaning in Western liturgics.) Yet this book is still used by the Antiochian Archdiocese of North America. Undoubtedly, some Carpatho-Russians, OCA members, and others continue to use the term "Mass" for the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.

There should be little concern about which term we use: both are ancient. What no one should countenance is the common misconception that the term "Mass" is some kind of post-Schism Roman abuse that Orthodox Christians should never utter except when adjoined with the word "anathema!" The Catholic Encyclopedia gives some background on the term: "The word Mass (missa) first established itself as the general designation for the Eucharistic Sacrifice in the West after the time of Pope Gregory the Great (d. 604)." In fact, St. Ambrose of Milan used the Latin phrase in a letter to his sister, Marcellina (Letter XX).

I'll let Fr. Michael Keiser have the final word, through this quotation from his book, Offering the Lamb: Reflections on the Western Rite Mass in the Orthodox Church:

The two names that are most commonly used among Orthodox Western Rite to describe the Eucharistic gathering are the Mass and the Divine Liturgy. I do not think one is necessarily more appropriate than the other, but it is important to understand that the Mass is not a late Roman Catholic innovation, but an Orthodox designation that was used by Orthodox Christians for centuries prior to the schism between the East and the West...What a blessing it would be if we could rejoice in the richness and diversity of Holy Tradition, as expressed in the names we used for the holy and common action that forms the center of the Orthodox Christian life: the Mass, the Divine Liturgy, and all the other words and rites that remind us of the rich tapestry that is the experience of the universal and True Faith. (pp. 8-10, 10).

(P.S.: I'm truly sorry it took me so long to answer, and I'm sorry for posting your comment and your question here. Usually, I just post one or the other. I'm humbled that you asked for my poor response. Thank you for stopping by this blog; we hope you'll return regularly. And please keep us informed about the Church in Finland!)

The Assumption vs. Assumptions

2008-08-22T04:13:00.000-07:00

Among some Orthodox, especially among new members of the Orthodox Church, there seems to be an impression that "the Fathers" never deviated from one another in any detail. Thus, by reading one father or one group of fathers, one may comprehend all of Orthodoxy. This is an oversimplification and runs the risk of denying the Fathers' humanity. Yes, they were great lights, and all are worthy of study, but they must often be read in view of one another.

The Feast of the Dormition/Assumption, whose octave falls today, is one case in point. Like many other feasts, the practice moved from the East to the West, and some Western fathers had questions about it. Two in particular were St. Adamnan of Iona (d. 704) and the Venerable Bede (d. 735). The former wrote in De Locis Sanctis, "on the right side of it [the lower church] is the empty stone sepulchre of St. Mary, in which for a time she rested after her burial. But how or when or by whom her sacred body was raised from that sepulchre, or where it awaits the Resurrection, it is said that no one knows certainly." The Venerable Bede echoed his questions.

Yet this Feast is celebrated by East and West, attested to by many Fathers. I don't say this to diminish either saint, especially the Venerable Bede. But there are some who will find a doctrine eluded to by one writer and run with it as far as they can, or who read a certain Byzantine term was used one time in a missal in a far-flung corner of the continent, and thus this is transformed into "our ancient Western heritage." But scattered individual uses, liturgical or doctrinal, are by definition idiosyncratic and, at times, simply wrong. This should serve as an antidote to our relying too heavily upon any one saint or geographic congolomeration of saints, in whom there may be error, and encourage us to rather lean upon the whole testimony of the fathers and the mind of the Church.

Thursday Within the Octave of Dormition/Assumption

2008-08-21T13:37:00.000-07:00

O most prudent Virgin, whither goest thou, shining resplendent like the glowing dawn? Daughter of Sion, thou art all comely and beautiful, fair as the moon, clear as the sun.

— Antiphon on the Magnificat from I Vespers of the Feast.

Audio: A "New" Ex-CEC Member on "True Convergence"

2008-08-20T19:14:00.000-07:00

It had been nearly eight months since its last update, so I wondered if it had died out, but thankfully the "True Convergence" podcast has come roaring back to life. You can now hear: True Convergence Episode #6, recorded two weeks ago. The new episode features the testimony of Noel Gnotti, a former member of the Charismatic Episcopal Church, now a member of St. Anthony's Orthodox Church in San Diego, California. Also on this episode is Fr. Patrick Cardine, of St. Patrick Antiochian Orthodox Church (Western Rite) in Warrenton, Virginia, a longtime friend of the newly chrismated Noel. We also hear from Matt Cuthberton of St. John the Theologian Orthodox Church in San Juan Capistrano, CA. (Matt has just opened the Byzantine chant site: chantbootcamp.com.)

As with all the previous episodes, this is well worth listening to, especially for CEC members, charismatics, or evangelicals considering the Orthodox Church. (You can get a a run-down of earlier shows here.) Noel's words about being a "professional Christian" are touching (and convicting). The guests also discuss such topics as:

Developing a less "casual" view of truth;
The Convergence Movement's hidden pitfalls: syncretism and self-deception;
The deep theological content of Orthodox services;
How charismatic "revelations" are commonplace in Orthodoxy;
True Convergence occurs within the Orthodox Church;
What holds us back from pursuing truth; and
Satisfying spiritual hunger.

You can download all the episodes here.

So, Two Pictures Are Worth 2,000 Words....

2008-08-20T04:50:00.000-07:00

I know the blog entry was some time ago, but I couldn't forget those pictures of St. Gregory the Great's parish being changed from this to this. The images showing Fr. Alford and his congregation laboring to construct a reverent WR Orthodox church out of a former Pentecostal meeting house got me thinking. You could see these two pictures as graphic representations of the transformation of so many former evangelicals from Protestants into Orthodox Christians. It reminds me of this cartoon, actually. (Or read the archives of this blog.) No one can say how many, but over the last several decades, thousands have become Orthodox, either Eastern or Western Rite. This number includes not a few charismatics, perhaps not unlike the group that formerly owned St. Gregory the Great's building.

One striking aspect of Orthodoxy, both Eastern and Western Rite, is the palpable sense of God's presence that our architecture, our sacred space, conveys. This is not always obvious in the architecture of our souls. Because of our sins, whether "cradle" or "convert," Eastern or Western, we desperately need to change from within. This is not merely rearranging the deck chairs (though some saints had a high level of sanctity from infancy); for most of us, it is a major refurbishing. At various stages in our renovation into the image of Christ, our souls may look like this and even this. Someone may look around at the refuse and think to himself, "Things were better before I started this undertaking; all I've done is destroy the condition of my soul. At least before, everything was in its place." Yet we know if the inner man is to become what our Lord wishes it to be, if we are to persist in following His commandments, more renovation must take place, messy and unfamiliar as things sometimes become.

This difficulty is compounded by the fact that, not only can this stage of growth be mistaken for destruction, but a period of destruction can also confused for this stage of growth. This is most true when one destroys his previous background's tradition and replaces it, not with the Lord's commandments, but with self-confidence and his own wisdom. "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." (Prov. 16:25). This person may seek to avoid the clear moral teachings of Orthodoxy, but constructing with a faulty moral blueprint, however well reasoned, will lead only to chaos, artifice, or disfigurement.

More often, he tries to remake the Church in his own image. Such a person knows the Church's teachings but finds he has a much better idea. He has culled ancient (and often long-dead) canons, divorced them from their context, and insisted "true" Orthodox follow them. Or he has strung together a series of liturgical texts that run in a cadence he rather likes and may (or may not) have come from pre-Schism times, and so insists the Church must bless and allow him to use it; after all, he is merely "returning" the Church to her foundations. They begin to ponder: "Perhaps the Church has not considered...Perhaps I was converted for the very purpose of helping the Church discover (or 'rediscover')...." He has been given immense wisdom and insight, engaged in "monumental undertakings," and his light was not made to be hid under a bushel. He cannot! He will not!

However, the Church has a way of shrugging off proud suggestions and self-congratulatory "scholarship" (and often such "scholars" have no scholarly credentials to begin with). Thus, the person becomes angry, frustrated, and his superior canonical or liturgical knowledge (conveniently) allows him to indulge his anger and hatred of the Church herself. He alone (or with a group outside the Church) has preserved the fulness of Church tradition, which the Church has rejected. If She has done this, she must be opposed to...the Church! How apostate, even Satanic, the Body of Christ becomes in their reasoning! Somehow, in making this case, these people cannot understand who might motivate them to attack the Body of Christ in such a way. If such people join a canonical Orthodox Church, they may no longer be members of their former denominations. They become "Orthodox" in name but rejected the Church's plan for constructing their lives. They destroyed their former background and built a self-directed shack in its place, them helpfully placed a plackard advertizing them as "Orthodox" in the front...the better to discredit the rest of us.

There is no place for self-guided morality or canons. And so it is with the Western Rite, as implemented by canonical Orthodoxy. In matters of liturgics, as in matters of our theosis, there is no room for Do-It-Yourself schemes. Following our own preferences will introduce chaos into what should be a well-ordered system. And as those who know construction will attest, problems with one part of a structure affect other parts of the edifice, as well. Soon, our moral, sacramental, and prayer lives are built on self rather than Christ. We turn our churches, and our souls, from this to this.

We have much work to do to turn our soul into an abode worthy of the Lord; or rather, none of us is ever worthy. God has given us the remaining time of our lives to bring these boards, bricks, and mortar into proper arrangement, and the Church has given us the blueprint of our soul's moral, ecclesiastical, and spiritual construction. Rather than debate and gainsay it, exalt our own "scholarship," let's merely, humbly, anonymously go about following it. Yes, we may at times be confused by new doctrines we have learned that contradict our previous affiliations, moral standards higher than our habitual practice, a prayer regimen arranged differently than those we celebrated. But if we persist, we clear away damaged or rotten boards, build an unshakable foundation, and rearrange parts of our building that the blueprint tells us are sound but out of place. In time, this building comes into order. On the way, we would do well to make ours the supplication of that ancient prayer from the Gelasian Sacramentary, which is included in the Orthodox Missal's "Prayers Before Mass":

Purify our consciences, we beseech Thee, O Lord, by Thy visitation: that our Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son, when He cometh, may find in us a mansion prepared for Himself, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

A Homily on the Dormition/Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God

2008-08-15T06:21:00.000-07:00

This day the holy and animated Ark of the living God, which had held within it its own Maker, is borne to rest in that Temple of the Lord, which is not made with hands. David, whence it sprang, leapeth before it, and in company with him the Angels dance, the Archangels sing aloud, the Virtues ascribe glory, the Principalities shout for joy, the Powers make merry, the Dominions rejoice, the Thrones keep holiday, the Cherubim utter praise, and the Seraphim proclaim its glory. This day the Eden of the new Adam receiveth the living garden of delight, wherein the condemnation was annulled, wherein the Tree of Life was planted, wherein our nakedness was covered.

This day the stainless maiden, who had been defiled by no earthly lust, but ennobled by heavenly desires, returned not to dust, but, being herself a living heaven, took her place among the heavenly mansions. From her true life had flowed for all men, and how should she taste of death? But she yielded obedience to the law established by him to whom she had given birth, and, as the daughter of the old Adam, underwent the old sentence, which even her Son, who is the very Life Itself, had not refused ; but, as the Mother of the living God, she was worthily taken by him unto himself.

— St. John of Damascus, from the second nocturn of Matins (Roman Breviary).

Merits of the Saints: St. Peter Chrysologus

2008-08-14T16:12:00.000-07:00

Over on Conversi ad Dominum, Fr. John W. Fenton quotes St. Peter Chrysologus' sermon of the feast of St. Lawrence (celebrated Sunday), which ends thus:

Therefore let us honor and esteem the merits of the martyrs as being the gifts of God. Let us beg for them, and add the inclination of our own will.

Fr. Fenton notes the the term "merits" is familiar to most of us only through the medieval dispute over works of supererogation, etc., but intimates it may not be inexplicably bound up with such notions. He writes:

St Peter Chrysologus, however, is certainly not medieval, and does not, to my mind, evidence "pre-medieval" tendencies (whatever these may be). Hence, his use of the term "merits" suggests that, perhaps, there is a proper use of the term that neither reactively requires its deletion nor unthinkingly compels it to be understood in a scholastic context.

Of St. Chrysologus, "the Western Chrysostom," Fr. Fenton is certainly correct.

Subdn. Benjamin Andersen has a few comments on Fr. Fenton's post, which are, as always, enlightening.

We had a discussion of merits on this blog in March, 2006. I was humbled that discussion spurred Subdn. Benjamin Andersen to write an outstanding blog entry on the topic, which I link for those able to access his blog. For those who can't, I quoted and commented upon his entry here.

Though this discussion is in a most embryonic stage, Fr. Fenton's post alludes to a fascinating question: to what degree would the term "merits" be applicable within Orthodox theology, and should such use then be made of it? Everyone agrees further study is needed; I would love to see such be undertaken. Surely somewhere there must be an Orthodox philanthropist or medievalist willing to underwrite such research? Or someone with the appropriate grounding in patristics and Western history willing to read? Is Bp. HILARION (Alfeyev) out there somewhere? :)

As I wrote before, this merits discussion.

Met. PHILIP Responds to the Jerusalem Patriarchate Transfer

2008-08-14T05:08:00.000-07:00

Here's Metropolitan PHILIP's letter on the topic:

August 7th, 2008

To: The Esteemed Hierarchs, Members of The Archdiocese Board of Trustees, Clergy and Faithftil of the Self-Ruled Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America:

On August 5, 2008, The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America issued a press release which established a vicariate with the name 'Vicariate for Palestinian/Jordanian Communities in the USA'. The membership of this vicariate will consist of those communities in the USA which were originally part of the Patriarchate of Antioch, but most recently (since 1993) were uncanonically claimed by the Patriarchate of Jerusalem. From an historical perspective, it has been clear since the disintegration of Orthodox unity which existed in North America until 1917, that the Arabic-speaking Orthodox people in North America have been exclusively under the pastoral care of the Self-Ruled Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. Similarly, the Greek-speaking Orthodox people (e.g. Cypriot, Greek, Egyptian, Turkish, etc.) have always been under the pastoral care of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. What reaction would occur if the Antiochian Archdiocese were to establish a vicariate for Greek communities which separate themselves from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese?!

These former "Jerusalem Patriarchate" communities separated themselves from the Antiochian Archdiocese without canonical releases, and in some cases are served by priests who are under canonical suspension. It is important to point out that since this separation occurred in 1993 we have taken extraordinary measures to reconcile these communities with The Antiochian Archdiocese and have appealed to both the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Patriarchate of Antioch as well as others for their assistance. Unfortunately, none of our numerous appeals for intervention were answered.

As such, our directive of May 2, 2003 remains in force. To emphasize the main point or that directive, the clergy of The Antiochian Archdiocese are still forbidden from communing and/or concelebrating with any clergy who are a part of this newly-formed "Vicariate far Palestinian/Jordanian Communities in the USA" of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, whether in our parishes, their parishes, or as a part of pan-Orthodox gatherings.

We lament this action by the Ecumenical Patriarchate which further complicates the already uncanonical jurisdictional situation here and continues to undermine the efforts of all Orthodox hierarchs of SCOBA to achieve administrative unity and canonical normalcy in North America.

Praying that this urgent situation will be resolved in a spirit of peace, harmony and love, we remain

Yours In Christ,
Metropolitan PHILIP
Archbishop of New York and Metropolitan of All North America

Copy to:
His Beadtude IGNATIUS IV, Patriarch of Antioch and All The East
His Holiness ALEXY, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
His All-Holiness BARTHOLOMEW, Patriarch or Constantinople
His Beatitude THEOPHILOS, patriarch of Jerusalem
All Hierarchs of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in America (SCOBA)

Ancient Milanese Rite Revived in Milan

2008-08-09T13:01:00.001-07:00

It appears the older form of the Ambrosian Mass will soon be celebrated in its former diocese. Although details were not yet fixed, the NLM reports the Roman Catholic hierarchy has granted permission for the older liturgy to be celebrated "at a place within the Archdiocese of Milan, but, as I infer, outside the See city, in addition to the Mass celebrated each Sunday at San Rocco al Gentilino." Tentatively, this will begin this October.

In the Middle Ages, a great proliferation of variants snuck into the celebration of the Mass; often the same nation would have many different forms of the Mass based on diocese. To diminish this chaos, the council of Trent in 1570 specifically authorized all liturgies at least 200 years old at that time to continue, while suppressing medieval innovations. (By the nineteenth century, though, more variant liturgies introduced themselves.) In the years since the 1970 New Order of the Mass, even these retained liturgies have been Novus Ordo-ized. This edict will allow an older tradition to revive. Already, the NLM blog reports, there are requests for a wider usage of the old Ambrosian Mass.

(Hat Tip: The New Liturgical Movement)

Jerusalem Patriarchate Bows Out of North America

2008-08-06T05:45:00.000-07:00

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese has announced that the Jerusalem Patriarchate has relinquished its parishes in North America to Abp. DEMETRIOS.

Henceforth, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem no longer asserts any jurisdiction in the Western Hemisphere.

After an April 1 meeting between H.A-H. BARTHOLOMEW I and Patriarch THEOPHILUS III of Jerusalem:

His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America was directed to proceed with the implementation of the agreements by the creation of a Vicariate for the inclusion of the clergy and communities within the Archdiocese of America. The official name of the Vicariate is: “Vicariate for Palestinian/Jordanian Communities in the USA.”

The clergy and communities of the Vicariate will be directly under the Archbishop of America and will report to the Archdiocese through the Vicar. Through the Archdiocese, all of these clergy and communities will be able to participate in the programs and agencies of SCOBA.

I don't understand the church politics of this enough to know its significance; I just thought the news more than merited mention.

From the Mailbag: Western Rite Missions in England?

2008-08-03T12:05:00.000-07:00

Q: Your Western Orthodoxy blog shows in its entry for July 16 a clergyman censing the congregation at a ROCOR Western-Rite liturgy in London.

On the assumption that the London in question is London the capital of the UK rather than London, Ontario, Canada, I should be interested to know if WR liturgies are a regular occurrence in London and who organises them.

I am an Anglican with a long-standing interest in Orthodoxy and who is needless to say unhappy with what is going on in Anglicanism at the moment.

I assume that you are the author of the blog, if not please congratulate him from me on splendid piece of work.

A: Thank you for your kind words about my poor, unofficial blog. The liturgy was, indeed, held in the UK rather than Ontario (although there is a ROCOR monastery not far from London, Ontario, as well). The celebrant of the Mass in London, Fr. Michael of St. Petroc Monastery, recently addressed the issue of Western Rite missions in Great Britain. Here's what he wrote:

In the aftermath of the Church of England's General Synod decision to go right ahead with bishopesses, and of the shambles that Rowan Williams has managed to make of Lambeth, it is timely to say out loud to Church of England laity, that there is an alternative to the pseudo-leadership of the papacy. The Pope is neither the only nor the best way for members of the Church of England to go!! How many Church of England people realise that the Western Rite was first authorised for Orthodox use specifically IN ENGLAND over a hundred and thirty years ago (just after the Primus of Scotland had visited Russia and discussed unity with Church authorities there - and reported his conversations to the Convocation of Canterbury)? How many realise that services extracted from the Book of Common Prayer were authorised for adaption for Orthodox use over a hundred years ago? How many realise that there have been Orthodox Benedictine monasteries for over sixty years? That the Church of England non-Jurors discussed joining with Orthodoxy in the eighteenth century? Or that the first Anglican parish joined Orthodoxy over thirty years ago? Embryo Western Rite parishes/missions can be formed immediately in England (or Scotland or Wales) and seek immediate Orthodox oversight while they prepare themselves for formal reception. A Western Rite Orthodox Prayer Book already exists - it is just a matter of them making contact with us.

Missions in the UK are dear to Father's heart. He is always searching for those who wish to live out their Orthodox theology in an approved Western liturgical form.

You can contact Fr. Michael here. You can also reach him through the St. Petroc Monastery website or through his online discussion site, Ely Forum.

Thank you for contacting me. I pray your correspondence is a fruitful one, and Godspeed to you on your journey home.

Reports from a Diocesan Conference

2008-08-01T07:12:00.000-07:00

Good, though late, news to report from the Parish Life Conference for the Diocese of Charleston, Oakland, and the Mid-Atlantic. This year's PLC was held at St. George Cathedral in Charleston, West Virginia. As I wrote at the time, Bp. THOMAS gave his hierarchical blessing for a Western Rite Vespers to be celebrated on July 4.

Orthodox clergy of the diocese have told me that, after the service, several cradle Orthodox who had been nurtured by the Byzantine Rite, came up to them afterward to tell them, "Thank you for that beautiful service and chant!" Another said, with tears in her eyes, "I felt God's presence." This were only two of many such comments.

The more we know one another, not only will we come together on a human level of understanding, but we experience the vertical communion of the saints made real whenever Christ's Church gathers in worship.

Our thanks, again, to Bp. THOMAS for allowing this, and to all those who supported or celebrated it. And for those lay men and women, dear to God, who experienced the immanence of the Divine in this Western Rite Orthodox worship, thanks be to God!

The Newest "Threat to Christianity!"

2008-07-31T13:42:00.000-07:00

Stop me if you've heard this one before: the secular media report a recent archeological discovery that is supposed to shake Christianity's most sacred doctrines down to their foundation. Except, when one examines the fine print, the facts don't quite add up. It's happened again. (The media earns points for originality by releasing it sometime other than Lent, unlike the last few stories.)

I'd meant to write something about the newest chapter in this saga, but put it off until I heard Dr. Clark Carlton's newest podcast on the subject. Although I frequently find myself differing with him, Carlton hit the nail on the head about this one.

The newest drive-by assault on our religion has to do with the proper interpretation of the Suffering Servant written of in Isaiah 53. (The passage actually begins in the last few verses of chapter 52.)

The London Times headline blares, "Dead Sea tablet 'casts doubt on death and resurrection of Jesus.' " That sounds like they found the Body, doesn't it? So, what's so all-fired important? A recently discovered stone, which is written on and not engraved, contains an apocalyptic text known as "Gabriel's Vision of Revelation." The New York Times says this stone dates from the first century B.C. The media report this text, if correctly interpreted, discusses a Messiah named Simon who suffers and dies for Israel's redemption, then rises after three days.

For one thing, it's not at all clear that the text is correct. You see, "A previous paper published by the scholars Ada Yardeni and Binyamin Elitzur concluded that the most controversial lines were indecipherable." The New York Times adds, "the stone is broken, and some of the text is faded, meaning that much of what it says is open to debate."

But the (London) Times goes forward, "Israel Knohl, a biblical studies professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, argued Monday that line 80 of the text revealed Gabriel telling an historic Jewish rebel named Simon, who was killed by the Romans four years before the birth of Christ: 'In three days you shall live, I, Gabriel, command you.'" (He also says the tablet calls this leader the "Prince of Princes." This is rather like the Apocalypse's "King of Kings," don't you think?)

The New York Times spins, "If such a messianic description really is there, it will contribute to a developing re-evaluation of both popular and scholarly views of Jesus, since it suggests that the story of his death and resurrection was not unique but part of a recognized Jewish tradition at the time." Moreover, this was Knohl's desire. "Mr. Knohl posited in a book published in 2000 the idea of a suffering messiah before Jesus, using a variety of rabbinic and early apocalyptic literature as well as the Dead Sea Scrolls. But his theory did not shake the world of Christology as he had hoped, partly because he had no textual evidence from before Jesus." (Emphasis added.)

The story continues:

He says further that such a suffering messiah is very different from the traditional Jewish image of the messiah as a triumphal, powerful descendant of King David.
“This should shake our basic view of Christianity,” he said as he sat in his office of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem where he is a senior fellow in addition to being the Yehezkel Kaufman Professor of Biblical Studies at Hebrew University.

I see. So, an artifact that "is very different from the traditional Jewish image of the messiah" and presents a fundamental contradiction to anti-Messianic polemics voiced in the pitched battles against Christians "should shake our basic view of Christianity"? Gotcha....

Unfortunately for the secular media, Christians have always taught that the Hebrew Scriptures foretold a Suffering Servant, and that Jesus fulfilled this prophecy in His life. This tablet, if true, would be the smoking gun to prove Christians were right. If Knohl were correct, this discovery would not shake up Christology but destroy one steadfast argument against a Christological interpretation of the Old Testament.

In fact, it has been an underpinning of certain individuals who oppose Christianity that Judaism had no "suffering servant" view of the Messiah. They insist that Christianity invented this doctrine after the Crucifixion. Take, for instance, Jews for Judaism. Answering the question of whether the prophecy in Isaiah 53 of the Suffering Servant referred to Jesus, the group writes emphatically:

It is apparent from the Gospels that before and for sometime after the crucifixion Jesus' own disciples didn't view Isaiah 53 as referring to a suffering messiah who would die for the sins of the people and then be resurrected. It was only in the post-crucifixion period that these notions developed among the followers of Jesus. There is simply no evidence that this was a Jewish interpretation of the passage. The Question remains as to who are the Jews contemporary with Jesus that supposedly held to what has become the present Christian understanding of the meaning of Isaiah 53? They simply cannot be identified because they never existed.

Thanks be to God the Ethiopian eunuch did not go to them!

But this revisionist viewpoint did not begin with this 21st century group. Origen, later condemned as an heretic, discussed how Jews in his day held "that these predictions bore reference to the whole people, regarded as one individual, and as being in a state of dispersion and suffering, in order that many proselytes might be gained, on account of the dispersion of the Jews among numerous heathen nations."

However, a different interpretation of Isaiah 53 has continued to this day. In fact, Rabbi Alan J. Iser referred to this on one episode of "The Illumined Heart" on Ancient Faith Radio.

On the other hand, Christians have been teaching a Messianic interpretation since the very beginning, both in the New Testament and in the earliest patristic writings.

Some Christian apologists have taught there were two traditions of a Messiah at the time of Christ, but only the second was preached. That was Messiah Ben David, the conquering king. But he was preceded, in Jewish tradition, by Messiah Ben Joseph, who was to be a Suffering Servant, and if this Messiah had been taught, it would have been more obvious that Jesus had come in this role.

What is clear is that this stone casts no doubts on Christianity but affirms one of its central tenets. It undermines arguments against Christianity. And the anti-Christian media spun the story exactly backwords, because that fit their agenda.

(Mind you, there are some "Orthodox" who think the Crucifixion was incidental, and we in no way should value, emphasize, or meditate upon it in conjunction with our ever-present focus on the Resurrection. Maybe this will cause them to rethink their extremist position, as well.)

You can hear Dr. Clark Carlton's podcast here.

Off-Topic: Abortionist Tiller Takes Communion at ELCA Church

2008-07-31T05:50:00.000-07:00

Yes, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) considers the partial birth abortionist "Dr." George Tiller, and his wife, members in good standing. His wife even wrote a devotional for the local church's newsletter at one point.

This website has a picture of the man taking communion.

God have mercy on him and the entire ELCA.

Orthodoxy in Russia: Year 1020

2008-07-28T13:13:00.000-07:00

The Orthodox Church is marking 1,020 years of Orthodoxy in ancient Rus by proving Orthodox hierarchs don't always fight.

Patriarch ALEXY II of Moscow and Ecumenical Patriarch BARTHOLOMEW I of Constantinople celebrated a Divine Liturgy together yesterday in Kiev, now part of hotly contested Ukrainia.

Spraznikom!

Science Proves: Incense is Good for You

2008-07-16T07:14:00.000-07:00

Fr. Barry Jeffries censes the people at a Hierarchical (Western Rite Orthodox, ROCOR) Liturgy in London, 2007.

No visitor to either Eastern nor Western Rite fails to notice the presence of incense in our services, frequently in profuse abundance. Scientists have now confirmed: incense is good for your emotional health. An otherwise sarcastic article on MSN Health entitled "Frankincense and Mirth" reports:

Scientific papers aren’t usually tagged with very exciting titles, but recently I came across a real barn burner: Incensole Acetate, an Incense Component, Elicits Psychoactivity by Activating TRPV3 Channels in the Brain.
Whoa.
Reading between the lines of lab-coat lingo, I realized the report was saying that frankincense—the incense traditionally burned in religious ceremonies—can act on the brain to lower anxiety and diminish depression.

As it turns out: "Researchers from Johns Hopkins University and Hebrew University administered incensole acetate, a component of frankincense, to lab mice and learned that it lit up areas of their little mouse brains that control emotion, including nerve circuits affecting anxiety and depression."

So, breathe deep, relax, and worship the Holy Trinity.

Again, the wisdom of our spiritual Fathers — Eastern, Western, or from the Old Testament Church — shines forth.

(Hat tip: What Does the Prayer Really Say)

I Hate To Say I Told You So, But....

2008-07-13T19:50:00.000-07:00

I'm several days behind, so this may not be news, but I post it because it relates to something I wrote years ago here.

Following the defeat of the "Superbishops" provision for conservative Anglicans, the Bishop of Ebbsfleet, the Rt. Rev. Andrew Burnham, says he may lead a group of Anglicans into communion with Rome. But the Times shows ever-liberalizing Euro-Catholics are discouraging the prospect:

A spokesman for the Catholic Church of England and Wales said all new members are welcome, but added that each must join individually and parishes could not simply convert en masse.

More than a year ago on this blog (and longer ago than that elsewhere), I wondered why Orthodox never seemed to bother making their presence known to Anglicans:

When conservative Anglicans noised about their will to break away from the left-wing Episcopal Church (TEC), then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) wrote a letter supporting their efforts. Now a major realignment may be underway, in which Anglicans may reunite with the Papacy...

Many of us wondered at the time why Orthodox made no similar attempt to establish closer relations with the more conservative Anglicans. Even a token of goodwill from a high enough source would have made an important statement, and Lord willing, it would have meant teaching them what we require for unity on our own terms. Whether the Anglicans accepted the terms or not is less important than that we had the opportunity to make it, as the Lord requires. None was made....

[W]hy did no one on this side of the Bosphorus understand that having a positive relationship with liturgical Christians with some moral values noisily seeking for another church home might be of some use?

Even at this late stage of apostasy, if there has been any Orthodox contact with the communion's remaining Anglo-Catholics (with the exception of one stouthearted priest), I am unaware of it. Even in official reaction, one finds outrage against the problem but no solution for those trapped with it. Fr. Igor Vyzhanov, secretary of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations, called the decision "painful," adding this move "is further alienating the Anglican community from the Apostolic tradition." The move, though, was "predictable because the tendency of total liberalization unfortunately dominates in many Christian Churches, including the Anglican community." Fr. Igor did observe the decision "is worsening a split among the Anglicans," which historically is "the nearest amongst the western Christian Churches." He notes with sadness, "A very serious dialogue was underway with it in a hope that good relations between the Orthodox and Anglicans would have good prospects."

Bp. HILARION, Moscow Patriarchal Bishop of Vienna and Austria, called this move "the Anglican community's next concession to the modern secular standards." He added, "Centuries-old tradition of Christian Church is denied for political correctness once again." Although Canterbury has invited Orthodox observers to the Lambeth Conference, His Grace wondered aloud if "it makes sense for Orthodox observers to participate in a forum of the Church that takes decisions invariably contradicting Orthodox ecclesiology. And to what extent bilateral Orthodox-Anglican is rational in such a situation. I suppose leaders of local Orthodox Churches should consider these questions seriously again."

Why would the remaining Druids care if "reactionaries" from the East turned away? His Grace is right that it does Orthodox no good to "observe" the Anglican Communion's descent into paganism. In fact, all these statements are true as far as they go. But why be reactive instead of pro-active? What if, instead of merely noting the outrage of Canterbury's long-term apostasy and questioning the future of a moribund ecumenical dialogue, these two statements had included a phrase along these lines (I am trying to stay as close to their original wording as possible): "This latest concession to secular trends calls into question the extent to which bilateral relations with Canterbury remain rational. However, we have long recognized the High Church tradition of Anglo-Catholicism as the closest theology to Orthodoxy among the Western churches. We welcome a very serious dialogue with those unable to consent to this liberalization, who cling to this part of Apostolic tradition, and we believe good relations between Orthodox and conservative Anglicans will have good prospects for our eventual unity."

There was, and is, no such statement, not even a letter expressing sympathy for the Anglo-Catholics' unenviable position. As I wrote last year:

The accord is far from a settled reality. But it's much closer than any similar, massive concordat with Orthodoxy, whether Eastern or Western.

There is not a trace of glee whatever in my saying, "I told you so."

Superbishops

2008-07-13T14:45:00.000-07:00

Around the time the Anglican Communion gave the middle finger to its remaining Christians, our friend Ari Adams wrote this about the rejected petition for "Superbishops" (bishops who oversee people outside their geographical dioceses):

Faster than a mass defection.
More powerful than a Jerusalem conference.
Able to leap jurisdictional boundaries in a single bound.

Look! Up in the sky!
It's a bird. It's a plane. It's Superbishop!

Yes, it's Superbishop - strange visitor from another province who came to the diocese with powers and abilities far beyond those of ordinary bishops. Superbishop - who can change the course of traditionalist parties, bend dissatisfaction with his bare hands, and who, disguised as a diocesan bishop, mild mannered vicar for a large provincial see, fights the never ending battle of Attrition, Compromise and the Anglican Way.

It seems the ~~Apostate~~ Anglican Communion found the kryptonite. Ari's post is funny because it's true. And because it's true, it's not funny at all....

Assume the Superbishops sideshow had gone through: those upholding the Church's traditional belief on female ordination would be spared being directly ruled by female bishops. However, some of these Superbishops (like the AMiA body) approve of female priestesses. Above all this, one would still be in communion with all these female priestesses and bishopesses, including "Conjoined Twins" Kate; if they appeared at the communion rail with Gene Robinson and John Spong in tow, you would be forced to commune the lot of them.

There's one word for those fighting this fight.

From the Mailbag: Canonizing Uncanonized Saints

2008-07-07T07:17:00.000-07:00

Q: I find that these unilateral glorifications [of saints] cause me no small disturbance. It would be more appropriate to say, in the case of those not yet revealed by God and recognized by the Church to be saints, "requiem aeternam" instead of "ora pro nobis," as we have no way of knowing with certainty greater than our own feeble reason whether or not they have indeed obtained boldness before the throne of the Most High.

A: Thank you for your comment, my friend; I truly appreciate your feedback, although I disagree with your sweeping conclusion. As the Most Unique School of Orthodoxy reminds us, this is precisely how (some) glorifications occur in Orthodoxy: a holy person is commemorated by a local following after his or her repose and later recognized by the Church. Here's a representative description:

For the first thousand years of the history of the Church saints were recognized without any formal rite of canonization. Local congregations of the faithful simply began to remember certain well-known Christians in their liturgical gatherings, to ask them for help in prayer, to visit their relics, which frequently remained vehicles of the Holy Spirit, curing the sick in soul and body, as they had during earthly life...

The Holy Orthodox Church never developed any comparable methods for canonizing her saints [to that of Roman Catholicism]. The situation remained very much determined by local practices, local cults, and local traditions. Holy men and women continued to be recognized as such during their own lifetime; they continued to be venerated (honored) after their death; Christian people continued to ask for their prayers and to visit their shrines.

In time, especially in the Slavic Churches, a more disciplined method of canonization became the rule, due to the influence of the example of the western Christians. But no Orthodox Church has developed a system as detailed and as legalistic as that of the western groups.

Although committees may ultimately confer church recognition of an individual's sainthood, that's far from endorsing the notion that one must wait for that recognition to ask for the prayers of a righteous Orthodox; in fact, as long as the individual in question was both righteous and Orthodox, it instructs the opposite. Without such a local cultus, the likelihood of Church recognition would be at best remote.

Your comment was not submitted to a post that had anything to do with asking for prayers of anyone, but I assume you were referring to the category on this blog called "saints (uncanonized)." As the name states, these are holy Orthodox people who are not yet canonized by the Church. You will note I have added only three names to this list:

Dom Denis Chambault, a holy Benedictine Orthodox monk and acknowledged healer;
His Holiness ALEXANDER III (Tahan), Patriarch of Antioch, who renovated the patriarchate and approved the Western Rite patriarchate-wide; and
Fr. Alexander Turner, the pioneer who gave up the episcopacy to lead his diocese into Orthodoxy, becoming the seed of the Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate.

All are long reposed; Dom Denis manifested the miraculous gift of healing; and I know at least two of the three had a cultus at the times of their deaths. And I stress, this is merely my private view (apparently shared by others); it's hardly a pronouncement that I feel must be shared by all. This blog doesn't take itself that seriously. I certainly respect your opinion.

Since we are on good terms, I don't mind telling you, as the Orthodox told the Non-Jurors, it appears you "were in great fear where no fear was." But it's hardly a big deal if you don't follow this practice, my friend.

The Very Rev. Fr. David (Charles) Lynch, RIP

2008-07-01T14:47:00.000-07:00

The Very Rev. Fr. David (Charles) Lynch, Archpriest, 1936-2008. RIP.

The Very Rev. Fr. David (Charles) Lynch, Archpriest, passed into eternal life Sunday afternoon. Family members report Fr. Lynch was "surrounded by his family and Fr. Patrick H. Reardon, all of whom offered prayers for him the whole day and at the moment of his departure." He was 72. He fell asleep at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 29 — the Feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul. He is survived by his loving wife, Kh. Martha (who is an accomplished iconographer); two daughters (Margaret and Caroline); and five grandchildren (Sarah, Justin, Nathan, Dimitri, and Lazarus).

Fr. David Lynch was born in 1936 in Indiana and educated in Michigan. Before becoming Orthodox, he served as an Episcopalian priest. He attended Incarnation Church in Detroit while it was still a PECUSA parish. In the 1970s, after the then-Charles Lynch's tenure, Incarnation Church would join the Orthodox Church and become the first parish to celebrate the Liturgy of St. Tikhon.

Fr. Lynch would soon follow the parish into the Church. Fr. Lynch served many years at St. Augustine Orthodox Church (AWRV) in Denver, Colorado. Although he had spent many years as an Episcopal priest, he gladly served in the Gregorian rite, presiding over not only its spiritual life but also a beautiful musical program. After retiring, he moved to Crystal Lake, Illinois, and became attached to All Saints Orthodox Church in Chicago, serving alongside Fr. Patrick Reardon; Fr. Lynch enthusiastically praised both. He seemed to grow only busier in "retirement," criss-crossing the country to serve at the newly reformed Holy Incarnation Church (including celebrating its first Easter Mass in 2007), field inquiries about the Western Rite, and speak to seeking congregations (including more than one Charismatic Episcopal Church parish). How appropriate such a pastor, with a heart for gathering God's lost sheep, passed away on the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.

After suffering a fall, he fought back valiantly and showed great progress. The family stated they received an incredible outpouring of support, both during his recovery and following his passing. May our thoughts and prayers be with them in their suffering, as they will be with Fr. Lynch for his blessed repose.

The wake will take place on Wednesday, July 2, from 4-8:30 p.m., and a Requiem Mass will be offered on Thursday, July 3 at 11 a.m., both at Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church, located at 1449 N. Quentin Rd. in Palatine, Illinois. Interment will follow at Windridge Memorial Park in Palatine.

Fr. Lynch passed away in the Diocese of Toledo, so Bp. MARK is asking all Orthodox of the Byzantine Rite to pray a prayer rope for Fr. Lynch, saying on each knot, "O Lord Jesus Christ, grant rest to the soul of Thy departed servant." Those of the Western Rite can offer appropriate prayers as well.

Fr. Lynch will be greatly missed by all those who knew him, including this author.

Requiescat in Pace.

Additional Tributes:

Off-Topic: Greece Has Its First Gay "Marriage"

2008-06-23T07:05:00.000-07:00

Performed on Tilos by a "socialist" mayor. Kyrie eleison.

BYZANTINE RITE	WESTERN RITE
Today the Jews nail on the Cross Him Who did cleave the sea with a rod, and made them to pass through the wilderness. Today they pierce with a spear the side of Him Who scourged Egypt with curses for their sake; and will give Him bitterness to drink who rained down manna for their nourishment. (Sixth Antiphon, Orthros of Holy Friday - 12 Passion Gospels.) Why doth the law-transgressing people of false worship meditate in falsehood? Why was he condemned to death Who is the life of all? (Stichera Verse, Tone 2, Great Vespers of Holy Friday.)	O My people, what have I done to thee? Or wherein have I afflicted thee? Answer Me. Because I led thee out of the land of Egypt, thou hast prepared a Cross for thy Savior. (Good Friday Reproaches)
Say ye, O transgressors of the law, what heard ye from our Saviour? Is it not that He appointed a law and the teachings of the Prophets? How then did ye think to deliver to Pilate the Word, God of God, and the Deliverer of our souls? They who benefited always by Thy gifts, O Christ, were crying: Let Him be crucified. And the killers of the Righteous sought to free an evildoer in place of the Benefactor. But Thou wast silent, enduring their arrogance, wishing to suffer and to save us, since Thou art the Lover of mankind. (8th Antiphon, Orthros of Holy Friday.) In place of the good things that Thou didst for the Hebrew people, O Christ, they condemned Thee to be crucified, giving Thee vinegar and gall to drink. (11th Antiphon, Orthros of Holy Friday.) Thus saith the Lord to the Jews: My people, what have I done unto Thee, and wherewith have I harmed Thee? Thy blind have I lighted; thy lepers have I cleansed, and the man on his couch have I raised. O My people, what have I done unto thee, and wherewith hast thou rewarded Me? Instead of manna, gall; and in place of water, vinegar; and instead of loving Me, thou didst nail Me to the Cross. (12th Antiphon, Orthros of Holy Friday.) My firstborn, Israel, hath done double evil, having forsaken Me, the Fountain of the waters of life, and shaped himself a broken cistern, crucifying Me on a a Tree...thou O Israel did not refrain but delivered Me unto death. O Holy Father, forgive them, for they know not what they have done. (Praises, Tone 3, following 9th Gospel, Orthodos of Holy Friday.) When Thou wast led to the Cross, O Lord, Thou didst say, "For what act do ye wish, O Jews, to crucify Me? Is it because I have strengthened your cripples? Is it because I raised your dead as from the sleep, healed the woman of her issue of blood, and showed mercy upon the Canaanitish woman? For what act, O ye Jews, desire ye my death?" But ye shall behold Him whom ye pierced, O law-transgressors, and know that He is Christ. (Idiomela Hymns, Tone 5, 3rd Hour of Holy Friday.) Thus saith the Lord to the Jews: My people, what have I done unto thee; and wherewith have I harmed thee? Thy blind have I lighted; thy lepers have I cleansed, and the man on his couch have I raised. In my food they gave me gall, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. (Idiomela Hymns, Tone 8, 6th Hour of Holy Friday.) When the lawless nailed Thee upon the Cross, O Lord of glory, Thou didst cry unto them, "Wherein have I caused you sorrow? Wherein have I angered you? And who before Me delivered you from sorrow? And now wherewith do ye reward Me? Instead of goodness, evil; for the pillar of fire, ye nailed Me on the Cross; for the clouds, ye dug Me a grave; instead of water, ye gave Me vinegar to drink. (Idiolmela Hymns, Tone 2, 9th Hour of Holy Friday) Oh, how the assembly of the law-transgressors condemned to death the King of creation, not being ashamed nor abashed by His benevolences, of which He had assured them formerly, calling them to their remembrance, saying, "My people, what have I done to thee? Have I not showered Judaism with wonders? Have I not raised the dead by only a word? Have I not healed every sickness and every weakness? With what, then, hast thou rewarded Me? And why forgetest thou Me? For healing, thou hast inflicted wounds upon Me; and for raising the dead, thou dost cause Me, the Benevolent, to die suspended upon a Tree as an evil-doer; the Giver of the Law, as a law-transgressor; and the King of all as One Who is condemned." (Stichera Verse, Tone 6, Ibid.)	Because I led thee out through the desert forty years: and fed thee with manna, and brought thee into a land exceeding good, thou has prepared a Cross for thy Savior. What more ought I to have done for thee, that I have not done? I planted thee, indeed, My most beautiful vineyard: and thou has become exceeding bitter to Me: for in My thirst thou gavest Me vinegar to drink; and with a lance thou hast pierced the side of thy Savior. For thy sake I scourged Egypt with its firstborn: and thou didst deliver Me up to be scourged. I led thee out of Egypt having drowned Pharaoh in the Red Sea: and thou to the chief priests didst deliver Me. I opened the sea before thee: and thou with a spear didst open My side. I went before thee in a pillar of cloud: and thou didst lead Me to the judgment hall of Pilate. I fed thee with manna in the desert; and thou didst beat Me with blows and scourges. I gave thee the water of salvation from the rock to drink: and thou didst give Me gall and vinegar. For thy sake I struck the kings of the Canaanites: and thou didst strike My head with a reed. I gave thee a royal scepter: and thou didst give My head a crown of thorns. I exalted thee with great strength: and thou didst hang Me on the gibbet of the Cross. (Good Friday Reproaches)