Another Reason to Read the KJV's New Testament

With all the discussion of Bible versions online recently (read: since the release of the Orthodox Study Bible), I genuinely thought this was a parody for awhile. We've discussed other advantages of the KJV's New Testament before. I wouldn't agree with this preacher's statement that God "wrote" the King James Version word-for-word, and his Biblical numbers-system is loopy. But beneath it all, he makes a valid point. Not exactly the way I would have made it, but...well...it's memorable. And colorful.

St. John Chrysostom: Meditate on the Sufferings of Christ

So far in our Lenten series on the Orthodox saints' who counseled us to meditate upon the sufferings of Chris, we have read the words of St. Ephrem the Syrian and St. Tikhon of Zadonsk. Now let us hear the counsel of the greatest preacher in Byzantine Orthodox history: St. John Chrysostom:

[L]et us not merely read of these things, but bear them in our mind; the crown of thorns, the robe, the reed, the blows, the smiting on the cheek, the spittings, the irony. These things, if continually meditated on, are sufficient to take down all anger.

— St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of St. John (Homily 84)

For what could be equal to this insolence? On that face which the sea, when it saw it, had reverenced, from which the sun, when it beheld it on the cross, turned away his rays, they did spit, and struck it with the palms of their hands, and some upon the head; giving full swing in every way to their own madness. For indeed they inflicted the blows that are most insulting of all, buffeting, smiting with the palms of their hands, and to these blows adding the insult of spitting at Him. And words again teeming with much derision did they speak, saying, “prophesy unto us, thou Christ, who is he that smote thee?” because the multitude called Him a prophet.

But another saith, that they covered His face with His own garment, and did these things, as though they had got in the midst of them some vile and worthless fellow. And not freemen only, but slaves also were intemperate with this intemperance towards Him at that time.

These things let us read continually, these things let us hear aright, these things let us write in our minds, for these are our honors. In these things do I take a pride, not only in the thousands of dead which He raised, but also in the sufferings which He endured.

— St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of St. Matthew (Homily 85)

And the insults were different, and varied. For that Divine Head at one time they buffeted, at another they insulted with the crown of thorns, at another they smote with the reed, men unholy and accursed!

What plea shall we have after this for being moved by injuries, after Christ suffered these things? For what was done was the utmost limit of insolence. For not one member, but the whole entire body throughout was made an object of insolence; the head through the crown, and the reed, and the buffeting; the face, being spit upon; the cheeks, being smitten with the palms of the hands; the whole body by the stripes, by being wrapped in the robe, and by the pretended worship; the hand by the reed, which they gave him to hold instead of a sceptre; the mouth again by the offering of the vinegar. What could be more grievous than these things? What more insulting?

For the things that were done go beyond all language. For as though they were afraid lest they should seem to fall short at all in the crime, having killed the prophets with their own hands, but this man with the sentence of a judge, so they do in every deed; and make it the work of their own hands, and condemn and sentence both among themselves and before Pilate, saying, “His blood be on us and on our children,” and insult Him, and do despite unto Him themselves, binding Him, leading Him away, and render themselves authors of the spiteful acts done by the soldiers, and nail Him to the cross, and revile Him, and spit at Him, and deride Him. For Pilate contributed nothing in this matter, but they themselves did every thing, becoming accusers, and judges, and executioners, and all.

And these things are read amongst us, when all meet together. For that the heathens may not say, that ye display to people and nations the things that are glorious and illustrious, such as the signs and the miracles, but that ye hide these which are matters of reproach; the grace of the Spirit hath brought it to pass, that in the full festival, when men in multitude and women are present, and all, as one may say, at the great eve of the passover, then all these things should be read; when the whole world is present, then are all these acts proclaimed with a clear voice. And these being read, and made known to all, Christ is believed to be God and, besides all the rest, is worshipped, even because of this, that He vouchsafed to stoop so much for us as actually to suffer these things, and to teach us all virtue.

These things then let us read continually; for indeed great is the gain, great the advantage to be thence obtained. For when thou seest Him, both by gestures and by deeds, mocked and worshipped with so much derision, and beaten and suffering the utmost insults, though thou be very stone, thou wilt become softer than any wax, and wilt cast out of thy soul all haughtiness.

...Hearing then these things, let us arm ourselves against all rage, against all anger. Shouldest thou perceive thy heart swelling, seal thy breast setting upon it the cross. Call to mind some one of the things that then took place, and thou wilt cast out as dust all rage by the recollection of the things that were done. Consider the words, the actions; consider that He is Lord, and thou servant. He is suffering for thee, thou for thyself; He in behalf of them who had been benefited by Him and had crucified Him, thou in behalf of thyself; He in behalf of them who had used Him despitefully, thou oftentimes at the hands of them who have been injured. He in the sight of the whole city, or rather of the whole people of the Jews, both strangers, and those of the country, before whom He spake those merciful words, but thou in the presence of few; and what was more insulting to Him, that even His disciples forsook Him. For those, who before paid Him attention, had deserted Him, but His enemies and foes, having got Him in the midst of themselves on the cross, insulted, reviled, mocked, derided, scoffed at Him, Jews and soldiers from below, from above thieves on either side: for indeed the thieves insulted, and upbraided Him both of them. How then saith Luke that one “rebuked?” Both things were done, for at first both upbraided Him, but afterwards one did so no more. For that thou mightest not think the thing had been done by any agreement, or that the thief was not a thief, by his insolence he showeth thee, that up on the cross he was a thief and an enemy, and at once was changed.

Considering then all these things, control thyself. For what sufferest thou like what thy Lord suffered? Wast thou publicly insulted? But not like these things. Art thou mocked? yet not thy whole body, not being thus scourged, and stripped. And even if thou wast buffeted, yet not like this.

— St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on St. Matthew (Homily 87)

As we see, the Golden-Mouth had a great deal to say about the subject; this is but a sample. It is interesting to note the recurrence of his command to read of Christ's sufferings "continually," to "write [them] in our minds," and to "Consider the words, the actions" when we "seal" our breast by "setting upon it the cross." Read in conjunction with the foregoing counsel of Byzantine saints, we are exhorted to pay heed and homage to Christ's humility by contemplating His eternal glory and those things that in His condescension he voluntarily suffered for our sake.

Read the previous posts in the series:
St. Ephrem the Syrian: Meditate on the Passion of Christ.
Stations of the Cross: Another Similarity.
A Brief Post on St. Tikhon of Zadonsk on the Passion.

Save the Bible from Politicians

Barack Obama says the Sermon on the Mount Justifies Same-Sex Unions.

Reply: Barney Frank tells him to drop it.

Lessons on Persistence, from the Canaanite Woman

Fr. George Morelli, a member of the Western Rite Commission, has an inspiring sermon on a little-understood Gospel story: The story of the Canaanite (Syro-Phoenician) Woman (St. Matt. 15). In this Gospel, Jesus calls a Canaanite woman pleading for her daughter a dog, then tells her He is "not sent but unto the lost sheep of the House of Israel." The Fathers all agree Christ always intended to heal the woman's daughter -- and call the woman to faith in Him -- but He knew her humility, and He wanted all generations to revere and imitate her. Fr. George writes:

The Canaanite woman had to have been aware that Jesus was telling her that Jews considered her to be contemptible. But this did not stop her. She acknowledged Him as "Son of David." She was persistent and did not let obstacles [and] the insults of others stop her...Both Zacchaeus and the Canaanite woman share something in common: they are tough and resilient, and take responsibility to overcome barriers. Resilience is a psychological process of adaptation in the face of obstacles, trauma, tragedy and stress that is related to good emotional and physical health.

This message is particularly important to those in the Western Rite, who face misunderstandings and occasional hostility from misguided Byzantines. "Ugly Orthodox" tell us: "East-good; West-bad." Knowing the Orthodox Church is the Ark of Salvation, we must continue knocking until the Church rediscovers the forgotten "west wing" long dormant in Her mansion. Like this Canaanite woman, Western Christians cannot get discouraged and cannot take no for an answer.

(Hat tip: OrthodoxyToday.)

The Ancient, Eastern Basis for the Four-Fold Interpretation of Scripture

Although evangelical converts to Orthodoxy often dismiss the four-fold interpretation of Scripture as a "medieval Roman Catholic idea," its pedigree actually goes back to the ancient, monastic heart of the East. St. John Cassian received this hermeneutical principle from Abba Nesteros, an anchorite living in coastal Thennesus, Egypt, with two others (Chaeremon and Joseph). The saint recorded these instructions in his famous book of Conferences, a detailed account of the spiritual wisdom he and a friend received from monks from Syria to Egypt. In Conference 14:8, he remembers the holy desert father's words:

[P]ractical knowledge is distributed among many subjects and interests, but theoretical is divided into two parts, i.e., the historical interpretation and the spiritual sense. Whence also Solomon when he had summed up the manifold grace of the Church, added: "for all who are with her are clothed with double garments."(Prov. 31:21, LXX) But of spiritual knowledge there are three kinds, tropological, allegorical, anagogical, of which we read as follows in Proverbs: "But do you describe these things to yourself in three ways according to the largeness of your heart"(Prov. 22:20, LXX). And so the history embraces the knowledge of things past and visible, as it is repeated in this way by the Apostle: "For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondwoman, the other by a free: but he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh, but he who was of the free was by promise." But to the allegory belongs what follows, for what actually happened is said to have prefigured the form of some mystery "For these," says he, "are the two covenants the one from Mount Sinai, which gendereth into bondage, which is Agar. For Sinai is a mountain in Arabia, which is compared to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children." But the anagogical sense rises from spiritual mysteries even to still more sublime and sacred secrets of heaven, and is subjoined by the Apostle in these words: "But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not, break forth and cry, thou that travailest not, for many are the children of the desolate more than of her that hath an husband."(Gal. 4:22-27.) The tropological sense is the moral explanation which has to do with improvement of life and practical teaching, as if we were to understand by these two covenants practical and theoretical instruction, or at any rate as if we were to want to take Jerusalem or Sion as the soul of man, according to this: "Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem: praise thy God, O Sion"(Ps. 147:12). And so these four previously mentioned figures coalesce, if we desire, in one subject, so that one and the same Jerusalem can be taken in four senses: historically as the city of the Jews; allegorically as Church of Christ, anagogically as the heavenly city of God "which is the mother of us all," tropologically, as the soul of man, which is frequently subject to praise or blame from the Lord under this title.

Of these four kinds of interpretation the blessed Apostle speaks as follows: "But now, brethren, if I come to you speaking with tongues what shall I profit you unless I speak to you either by revelation or by knowledge or by prophecy or by doctrine?"(1 Cor. 14:6.) For "revelation" belongs to allegory whereby what is concealed under the historical narrative is revealed in its spiritual sense and interpretation, as for instance if we tried to expound how "all our fathers were under the cloud and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea," and how they "all ate the same spiritual meat and drank the same spiritual drink from the rock that followed them. But the rock was Christ."(1 Cor. 10:1-4) And this explanation where there is a comparison of the figure of the body and blood of Christ which we receive daily, contains the allegorical sense. But the knowledge, which is in the same way mentioned by the Apostle, is tropological, as by it we can by a careful study see of all things that have to do with practical discernment whether they are useful and good, as in this case, when we are told to judge of our own selves "whether it is fitting for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered"(1 Cor. 11:13). And this system, as has been said, contains the moral meaning. So "prophecy" which the Apostle puts in the third place, alludes to the anagogical sense by which the words are applied to things future and invisible, as here: "But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those that sleep: that ye be not sorry as others also who have no hope. For if we believe that Christ died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say to you by the word of God, that we which are alive at the coming of the Lord shall not prevent those that sleep in Christ, for the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first."(1 Thess. 4:12-15) In which kind of exhortation the figure of anagoge is brought forward. But "doctrine" unfolds the simple course of historical exposition, under which is contained no more secret sense, but what is declared by the very words: as in his passage: "For I delivered unto you first of all what I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again on the third day, and that he was seen of Cephas;"(1 Cor. 15:3-5) and: "God sent His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law;" (Gal. 4:4, 5) or this: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord the God is one Lord." (Deut. 6:4).

St. Benedict listed both the Conferences and Institutes as recommended reading in his Holy Rule, and the Holy Rule exerted such influence over the history of Europe that this became its entrenched Biblical hermeneutic. In the East, though, "St. Cassian the Roman" received less attention, having only two small entries in the first volume of the Philokalia (both considerably shortened in translation), and Abba Nesteros' guidance became lost. Ironically, this demonstrates that the more hostile Orthodoxy becomes to the West, the more it loses touch with its own Eastern heritage.

Fr. Patrick Reardon and the Interpretation of Scripture

Antiochian priest and Touchstone Magazine editor Fr. Patrick Reardon has written an excellent article on the traditional Orthodox biblical hermeneutic: the four-fold interpretation of Scripture:

I want to extend our consideration of a Christian study of the Chronicler by suggesting that there is more than one legitimate approach to the Sacred Text. Christian history itself testifies to this exegetical variety, in which the rich meaning of Holy Scripture is never reducible to just one framework nor to single formula. The Church has always insisted that the Bible is open to more than one approach, as long as each interpreter stays within, and takes his guidance from, the Rule of Faith (as explained, for example, by St. Augustine of Hippo, The City of God 15.26). We can start, for instance, by mentioning the standard four-fold outline formulated by Saint John Cassian in the early fifth century (Conferences 14.8).

This traditional outline speaks first of the literal or historical sense of the text, the meaning originally intended by the biblical writer himself. As applied to a Christian reading of Chronicles, the pursuit of this sense will endeavor to read the Sacred Text through the author's manifest theological and historical concerns and within the boundaries of the work's historical context. A great deal of the present commentary is devoted to this pursuit.

According to Cassian's outline, however, this literal sense of the Bible is transformed by its doctrinal significance discerned in the light of Christ. This is the deeper meaning of Holy Scripture indicated by the risen Lord, who "beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself" (Luke 24:27).

Following the lead of St. Paul, Sacred Tradition calls this meaning the Bible's allegorical sense (allegoroumena--Galatians 4:24), the newer, more complete significance, the sensus plenior evoked from the Sacred Page through its fulfillment in the Mystery of Christ. Reading Chronicles according to this sense, the figure of David, for example, is perceived to be a type of Christ, who fulfills in a special, definitive way what that Old Testament prophet and king accomplished by way of allegory. Namely, Christ provides for God's People the true worship, the true priesthood, the true Temple--all the things that David, through shadows and figures, provided in his own time.

The third sense in Cassian's traditional outline is the Bible's tropological or moral sense, its existential, practical, and concrete application to the life of the believing reader. We perceive this sense of the Old Testament in St. Paul's applications of the Sacred Text to the Christian's moral life, as when he wrote of the ancient Israelites in the desert, "all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come" (1 Corinthians 10:11). In addition to negative examples, such as the one just cited by Paul, the New Testament offers many positive Old Testament models, such as Elijah (James 5:17) and Rahab (Hebrews 11:31).

The work of the Chronicler, approached in this tropological sense, is full of myriad moral examples, both positive and negative, applicable to the life of the Gospel. Thus, the Christian reader is inspired to emulate such models as the foresight of David, the integrity of Jotham, the loyalty of Jehoiada, the courage of Micaiah, and so on, while cautiously eschewing the folly of Rehoboam, the infidelity of Jehoram, the cruelty of Athaliah, the ingratitude of Joash, etcetera. The Christian reader, in his assessment of these moral examples, will be careful to interpret the text, not only according to ethical standards of the Old Testament, but also in the full light of the Gospel. That is to say, the Christian moral life is always life under the guidance the Holy Spirit, not according to the bondage of the Law.

Still following Cassian's interpretive outline, the fourth level of significance in Holy Scripture--its anagogical or eschatological sense--is the meaning that it has with respect to the Last Things, the definitive fulfillment of all history. Interpreted in this sense, the Books of Chronicles present us with a prophetic adumbration of man's eternal destiny, his worship before the Throne of God in glory. Everything that the Chronicler has to say with respect to priesthood, sacrifice, hymnography, and prayer is a preparation for the everlasting worship described in, say, the Epistle to the Hebrews (for example, 12:18-24) and the Book of Revelation (for example, 5:8-14).

Fr. Patrick Reardon is pastor of All Saints Antiochian Orthodox Church in Chicago, Illinois, and a Senior Editor of Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity. He is also the author of Christ in the Psalms, and Christ in His Saints (both books are published by Conciliar Press).

(hat tip: OrthodoxyToday.org)

The Venerable Bede on the Wise Men's offerings

from Georges Trubert's Breviary in Provence, France, 1480.

The Adoration of the Magi has come to be given a range of interpretations, both in the Magi themselves and in the gifts they offered. In traditional iconography, and in most Western artwork of the era, the Three Wise Men are depicted as a beardless youth, a vibrant man with a medium-length beard, and an old man with a long beard. This symbolized the adoration offered to God by all ages and generations. As the world became more aware of its ethnic diversity, the Magi were rendered as representatives of the "three continents of the world," or the three branches of Noah's descendants: Africa (Hamites), Asia (Semites), and Europe (Japhethites).

Their gifts, too, had been seen as figurative of Christ. The gold represented Christ's status as a king. The franckincense represented His Divinity, since incense was offered to gods. (Many saints were martyred for withholding from Caesar their pinch of incense.) Myrrh was used in ancient burial practices, symbolizing that Christ had been born to die upon the Cross. In Byzantine iconography, this fact is represented by showing the Infant Christ wrapped, not in swaddling clothes, but in mummified bandages.

Apparently, in the days of the Venerable Bede (d. 735) , a proto-Jesus Seminar sought to "demythologize" the gifts of the Magi. Bede, one of the best-read exponents of the Western Fathers, was asked for their understanding of this episode. He wrote:

Some think that the men who came from the East to the Lord when He was born in the flesh and who adored Him by offering gifts did by no means understand in those same gifts the noblest mysteries which Holy Church now sublimely understands -- namely: in gold, a king; in incense, a God; in myrrh, a human being Who would in due course die and be buried -- but that they were bringing mysteries greater than they knew, and each simply offered as a gift to Him Whom they had come to adore as king the most valued product of His country. But if we diligently ponder their own words, we ascertain it to have been far otherwise; for this is what they said when they were coming into Jerusalem: "Where is He Who has been born King of the Jews? For we have observed His star in the East and have come to adore Him" (St. Matt. 2:2). Surely it is apparent that they understood Him to be a human being, for they say: "Where is He Who has been born?" And it is apparent that they also understood him also to be a human being, because they declare it in the same saying. And it is apparent that they also believed Him to be God, whence they add afterwards: "And we have come to adore Him." For such learned men would not have come so far to worship one whom they believed to be merely a human being and a king, and not God as well. They also had this lofty and noble perception about Him: namely, that although He was King of the Jews, He was also willing to save the Gentiles who were willing to believe in Him and to come to Him. They proved this especially by their own coming, and by their action.

from "On Eight Questions," Bede: A Biblical Miscellany. W. Trent Foley and Arthur G. Holder, trans. (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1999), p. 149.