Category Archives: Greek Orthodoxy

Christ is Risen, Truly He is Risen! – The Paschal Homily of St John Chrysostom

Standard | Posted on by

Today is the holiest day of the Eastern Orthodox (and all Julian Calendar Christians) year. We celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and state that our Christ is Risen; Truly, He is Risen! In honor of this holy day, I post the Paschal Homily of St John Chrysostom, perhaps the greatest homilist in the history of Christianity, whose words fit the day perfectly:

If anyone is devout and a lover of God, let him enjoy this beautiful and radiant festival.

If anyone is a wise servant, let him, rejoicing, enter into the joy of his Lord.

If anyone has wearied himself in fasting, let him now receive his recompense.

If anyone has labored from the first hour, let him today receive his just reward. If anyone has come at the third hour, with thanksgiving let him keep the feast. If anyone has arrived at the sixth hour, let him have no misgivings; for he shall suffer no loss. If anyone has delayed until the ninth hour, let him draw near without hesitation. If anyone has arrived even at the eleventh hour, let him not fear on account of his delay. For the Master is gracious and receives the last, even as the first; he gives rest to him that comes at the eleventh hour, just as to him who has labored from the first. He has mercy upon the last and cares for the first; to the one he gives, and to the other he is gracious. He both honors the work and praises the intention.

Enter all of you, therefore, into the joy of our Lord, and, whether first or last, receive your reward. O rich and poor, one with another, dance for joy! O you ascetics and you negligent, celebrate the day! You that have fasted and you that have disregarded the fast, rejoice today! The table is rich-laden; feast royally, all of you! The calf is fatted; let no one go forth hungry!

Let all partake of the feast of faith. Let all receive the riches of goodness.

Let no one lament his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed.

Let no one mourn his transgressions, for pardon has dawned from the grave.

Let no one fear death, for the Saviour’s death has set us free.

He that was taken by death has annihilated it! He descended into hades and took hades captive! He embittered it when it tasted his flesh! And anticipating this Isaiah exclaimed, “Hades was embittered when it encountered thee in the lower regions.” It was embittered, for it was abolished! It was embittered, for it was mocked! It was embittered, for it was purged! It was embittered, for it was despoiled! It was embittered, for it was bound in chains!

It took a body and, face to face, met God! It took earth and encountered heaven! It took what it saw but crumbled before what it had not seen!

“O death, where is thy sting? O hades, where is thy victory?”

Christ is risen, and you are overthrown!

Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen!

Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice!

Christ is risen, and life reigns!

Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in a tomb!

For Christ, being raised from the dead, has become the First-fruits of them that slept.

To him be glory and might unto ages of ages. Amen.

A happy Pascha to my Orthodox and Eastern Catholic brothers and sisters, and blessing to my Western Christian friends.

Homily for 2/3/13 – P35 – St Maximos

Standard | Posted on by

Fr. David Moser writes on Saint Maximos of Constantinople, the Beloved Confessor:

St Maximos the Confessor, whose memory we celebrate today, lived during
the first half of the 7th century. At this time, the monophysite heresy
had just been condemned at the Council of Chalcedon, but there were many
still in the Church who had a sympathy for some of the ideals of that
heresy and so attempted to reconcile them with the teaching of the
Church. The monophysites taught that our Lord had only one nature – His
divine nature – thus effectively denying that He was indeed “fully man”.
This, in effect made our salvation impossible because it would mean that
our Lord never took on the human nature and therefore that nature was
not transformed into His image. If our salvation is to become like
Christ, this would have been impossible for we did not have His divine
nature and our own human nature remained untransformed. This heresy was
condemned by the council of Chalcedon and the Orthodox dogma that Jesus
Christ had both a divine and human nature was proclaimed.

Although monophysitism had been condemned, it gave birth to another
heretical teaching called monothelitism. Monothelitism is the belief
that although Jesus Christ had two natures, He did not have a human
will, but only a divine will. Again there was the problem that if Christ
had only a divine will and not a human will, then the human will was not
transformed or deified and thus we would never be able to follow Christ
because our human will remained flawed and captive to sin. It was this
heresy that St Maximos struggled against throughout his life. Even in
the face of suffering, persecution, arrest, exile and torture, he
continued to confess the true faith. He did not condemn others, but only
held fast to the faith that had been handed to him and us by Christ.
We might well ask what difference do these fine points of theology
actually make in our lives. Does it really matter in our daily lives
whether or not Christ had one will or two? This might be a question for
theologians but why should we concern ourselves with such lofty concepts?

To demonstrate the importance of this dogma in our lives, let us look at
one of the conversations of St Maximos. He was asked by one Bishop
Theodosius of Cesarea, “Did God foreknow and foreordain our deeds from
eternity? …Explain what is in our power and what is not…I wish to
understand what we can control and what we cannot…” St Maximos
responded, “We do not directly control whether blessings will be
showered upon us or chastisements will befall us, but our good and evil
deeds most certainly depend on our will. It is not ours to choose
whether we are in health or sickness, but we make determinations likely
to lead to one or the other. Similarly, we cannot simply decide that we
shall attain the kingdom of heaven or be plunged into the fire of
Gehenna, but we can will to keep the commandments or to transgress them.”

Notice here the importance that St Maximos places on the role of our own
will. While we do not control the circumstances in which we live – we do
control how we will act in those circumstances. We make choices which
will lead us towards good or evil, towards God or away from Him. This is
the importance of our own will. It is by the action of our will that we
cooperate with God in our salvation. If our will remains fallen and
untransformed by grace, then we will have no hope of choosing in
accordance with the will of God. We will be trapped by our fallen and
faulty will and will have no way to rise above our sinful state.

But because our Lord did possess both a human and divine will, the human
will was transformed and able to be conformed to and act in complete
harmony with the divine will. For us this means that as we acquire the
grace of God, our wills are transformed by that grace and begin to be
able to be conformed to the divine will. We can then make choices by
which we repent from sin and turn away from it, by which we resist
temptation and choose instead to follow Christ. We will therefore be
able to cooperate with God in working out our salvation. Without our
free will and our cooperation in our own salvation, we become nothing
but pawns moved at the will of someone else, subject to the will of One
greater than us and unable to even desire to do good.

St John Chrysostom divides our actions and characteristics into three
categories. ‘One, he says, are good and can never be evil, such as
wisdom, mercy and so forth; the second are evil and can never be good;
for example, debauchery, inhumanity, cruelty. The third are sometimes
the one and sometimes the other, according to the disposition of those
who make use of them.’ St Nikolai (Velimirovic) continues on saying,
“And with this explanation, by that godly teacher, one sees how riches
and poverty, freedom and slavery, power and sickness and death itself
fall into this neutral category, which are in themselves neither good
nor evil, but are the one or the other according to the disposition of
men and the use men make of them.” See here the importance of the human
will, for by exercising our will in a Godly and grace filled manner
(which is possible only because Jesus Christ has assumed our will and
transformed it), we determine whether the circumstances in our lives are
good or evil. Their eternal value and effect on our spiritual condition
are the direct result of the exercise of our free will. If we use our
will in harmony with the divine will, then it will lead us into the
heavenly kingdom, however, if our will acts in a fallen manner, in
opposition to the divine will, it leads us away from God.

St Maximos is remembered as a confessor of the true faith in the face of
heretical beliefs that would have rendered our salvation impossible and
trapped us in helpless slavery to a fallen and unredeemed human will.
Without the true faith proclaimed and defended by St Maximos, we would
not know the value of self denial, of ascetic labor, of the patient
endurance of sorrow and suffering. We would be caught in the trap of
seeking only the good things of this life, mistaking them for the
blessings of God and therefore missing the narrow gate and straight path
of salvation.

Today we honor a confessor of the faith who endured all manner of
persecution and suffering in order to preserve, defend and proclaim the
true faith. It is this faith that we inherit and which is the path of
salvation which we follow and which leads us into the kingdom of heaven.
Let us today make good use of this divine gift passed on to us by St
Maximos and his fellow confessors so that we might join them in the
heavenly kingdom.

–
Archpriest David Moser
St Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Homilies:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/propoved/
Website:http://stseraphimboise.org/

Armenians, Greeks Reach Ceasefire on Church-Cleaning Conflict

Standard | Posted on by

Unfortunately, both the Greek and Armenian Orthodox monks make asses out of themselves by brawling in perhaps the holiest of Christian sites every single year. Praise God that, maybe now, this idiocy will stop. From EurasiaNet:

Cleaning days are rarely happy times. Even less so when you’ve got to fight over who cleans where and with what.

For years, Armenians and Greeks have been battling over who has the right to polish a step or dust a lamp in one of the world’s oldest churches — Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity, a 1,687-year-old structure built to commemorate the supposed birthplace of Jesus Christ.

Jointly run by the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Roman Catholic Church’s Order of St. Francis, the church, now a UNESCO World Heritage site, shows that, when it comes to housekeeping, three heads do not necessarily work together as well as one.

Windows, walls, the roof — you name it, there’s been conflict. In December 2011, the scuffles required police intervention when Greek and Armenian priests furiously battled each other with brooms and blows over a “new” approach to cleaning. (The Franciscans, for their part, get to give “the general cleaning” a miss.)

But, finally, hopes are surfacing that 2013 might prove the year of a ceasefire.

Last month, after intricate negotiations with the Armenians and Greeks over, yes, a ladder, the Palestinian Authority, which administers Bethlehem, announced that a critical breakthrough had been reached: Church of the Nativity cleaners this year will wield their mops and brooms according to rules laid down when Bethlehem was under Ottoman rule (1517-1917).

Known as the Status Quo, the rules, specifying territorial rights in the church down to the nitty-gritty, do not exactly read like Good Housekeeping, but their familiarity reassured the Armenian side.

Nonetheless, the Church of the Nativity’s official cleaning day on January 2 had been awaited with trepidation. Some feared fresh funny business from the Greeks, investigative news site Hetq.am reported. Cleaning the church is “as sacred [a] service to us as one of the solemn ceremonies in the Holy Places,” an unnamed Armenian Apostolic Church source explained.

But, in the end, with police at the ready, cleaning day reportedly went off without a hitch.

“Both sides (Greeks and Armenians) were on their best behavior,” an unidentified individual “close to the Armenian church” told a former Armenian Patriarchate spokesperson, whose story about the rift appeared in the Palestinian News Network.

Yet a further test of the cleaning-conflict ceasefire could lie down the road.

Although Armenia itself celebrates Christmas on January 6 (the Greek Orthodox Church on January 7), the Armenian Apostolic Church’s Jerusalem Patriarchate holds celebrations on January 18, with a processional to and service in the Church of the Nativity.

Get that Windex at the ready.

Christian rivals scrap Orthodox plan

Standard | Posted on by

Bad news for the Orthodox Christian community residing in Lebanon. From The Daily Star:

BEIRUT: Following a surprise meeting chaired by Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Beshara Rai Friday, rival Christian leaders called for adopting an electoral law that provides fair representation for all sects, in an apparent retreat from agreeing to the controversial Orthodox electoral proposal.

“It was agreed and stressed that it is necessary to adopt an electoral law that provides the best and fairest representation for all Lebanese sects,” said a brief statement issued after the meeting.

Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun; Amin Gemayel, the head of the Kataeb Party; and Marada Movement leader Suleiman Franjieh attended the meeting at Bkirki, the seat of the Maronite Patriarchate.

Lebanese Forces sources told The Daily Star that the party’s leader Samir Geagea was not present at the meeting for “mere security reasons,” as the time and place of the meeting were leaked to media ahead of time.

The statement said the patriarch and the leaders, including Geagea, would continue talks over the matter.

The meeting comes days after representatives of the LF, Kataeb, Marada and FPM met at Bkirki and agreed to support the electoral draft law proposed by the Orthodox Gathering. It would enable every sect to elect its own MPs under a proportional representation system with the entirety of Lebanon as a single district. The draft law is opposed by the Future Movement and the Progressive Socialist Party.

But in remarks published by a local newspaper Friday, Rai indicated that Bkirki was not fully behind the Orthodox Gathering proposal. “Bkirki does not support an Orthodox or Maronite [electoral] proposal; it supports only a Lebanese proposal,” Rai said.

Meanwhile, after four days of futile deliberations, a parliamentary subcommittee discussing electoral draft laws approved the minutes of its meetings and is set to resume talks Monday.

During a morning session, the subcommittee discussed draft laws that would modify the number of MPs, the final item on its agenda.

“The subcommittee finalized the discussion of the draft laws it received from joint parliamentary committees, including the number of MPs,” Western Bekaa MP Robert Ghanem said.

“The minutes will be officially read in the session that will be held Monday afternoon … we will then try to look for common points and agree on one electoral law,” added Ghanem, who is chairing the subcommittee’s meetings. The subcommittee discussed three draft electoral laws, including the Cabinet’s proposal, which would divide the country into 13 medium-sized districts under a proportional representation system. Also considered were a draft law presented by Aoun’s bloc, similar to the Orthodox proposal, and a third one presented by Christian parties from the March 14 coalition, which would divide Lebanon into 50 small districts under a winner-takes-all system.

For the second session in a row, Baabda MP Alain Aoun from the FPM did not attend. Aoun suspended his participation in the subcommittee’s meetings Thursday after March 14 subcommittee members rejected his demand that the minutes of the meetings be approved straightaway, and that the subcommittee recommend that Parliament vote on the Orthodox proposal, which was supported by the majority of blocs during the meetings.

March 14 lawmakers argued that minutes would be approved once the number of MPs, which is the final item on the agenda, is discussed.

Speaking to a local radio station, Aoun said he wanted to review the proceedings of Friday’s meeting in order to decide whether to participate in Monday’s session, adding that his decision to boycott the meetings was backed by his bloc.

A source close to Speaker Nabih Berri told The Daily Star that Aoun had the right to boycott the subcommittee’s sessions, adding that his absence would not disrupt its work. The source said it was possible that Aoun rejoin the subcommittee’s meetings starting Monday.

But Future Movement MP Serge Torsarkissian, also a member of the subcommittee, lashed out at Aoun’s boycott, calling it an election-related charade to show that the FPM was the most supportive of Christians’ rights.

“It is clear that the absence of my colleague Alain Aoun was coordinated with other March 8 groups,” he said. “Unfortunately, this wasted time … confused Christians … and was a bit of folklore ahead of elections to try to prove to Christians that the Free Patriotic Movement and its allies are the only groups concerned about the rights of Christians.”

“No draft law can be passed without the consensus of all groups … we are all eager to preserve the rights of Christians,” Torsarkissian added.

For his part, Metn MP Sami Gemayel hoped that Berri would call for a parliamentary session soon to put the three draft laws to a vote. “Today, we finished our work as a subcommittee, and Speaker Nabih Berri should set a date for a general assembly session [to pass a draft electoral law],” Gemayel said.

Gemayel called for the electoral law to be developed transparently, not in secret dealings, which he said has been the case over the past 23 years.

“There is one thing we are not ready to let drop: our demand for proper representation … we are no longer willing to go to elections with this [1960] law,” he said. “Let our allies and rivals put forward proposals that provide … fair representation, or else we stick to the Orthodox proposal.”

The winner-takes-all 1960 law, a version of which was used in the 2009 elections, is opposed by March 8 and March 14 groups alike.

The subcommittee, which is tackling the most controversial elements of a new electoral law, also discussed whether to increase the number of MPs.

According to a lawmaker who attended the meeting, March 14 MPs of the subcommittee along with Metn MP Hagop Pakradounian from Aoun’s bloc and PSP MP Akram Shehayeb supported increasing the number of lawmakers by six: one Sunni, one Shiite, one Druze, two Syriacs and Catholic.

Gemayel has proposed a draft law to increase the number of MPs by two, one Druze and one representing the Syriac sects, which currently do not have their own MP, but are part of the Christian “Minorities” seat.

Future Movement MP Nabil de Freij’s draft law would increase the number of MPs by four: one Syriac Catholic, one Syriac Orthodox, one Sunni and one Shiite.

Under the government’s draft electoral law, six MPs representing expatriates would be added to the current 128. Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan proposed that the number of MPs be reduced to 108, as agreed upon in the 1989 Taif Accord.

Hezbollah MP Ali Fayyad said after the session that his party supported the Cabinet’s draft law.

Shortly after the session began, Adwan left the meeting and paid a visit to Berri, while the rest of the subcommittee members wandered in the corridors, saying they were taking a break for “Friday prayers.” Fatfat said jokingly that Adwan went to perform Friday prayers.

Speaking to reporters after meeting Berri at his Ain al-Tineh residence, Adwan praised the speaker for supporting any draft electoral law Christian parties agree on.

“We praised Speaker Berri’s stance to support the Orthodox proposal which comes in line with his stance to support any draft electoral law that Christians agree on,” he said. “The speaker supports this draft law because he supports lifting injustice inflicted on Christians [as a result of the 1960 law],” Adwan added.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2013/Jan-12/201939-christian-rivals-scrap-orthodox-plan.ashx#ixzz2HuM9GDRW
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)

Albanians Blast Abp. Anastasios On Census

Standard | Posted on by

How bizarre. Even in this day of so-called religious pluralism, old, ugly hatred of Eastern Orthodoxy is beginning to creep back into the Albanian mainstream. Hopefully, the nation’s more rational heads will prevail. There are good men in Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, Islam and the secular society who have managed to work together well, and it is their responsibility to quash such unseemly behavior.

A Word From The Desert, September 14, 2012

Standard | Posted on by

Therefore, my brother, ask for repentance in your prayer and nothing else, neither for divine lights, nor miracles, nor prophecies, nor spiritual gifts – nothing but repentance. Repentance will bring you humility, humility will bring the Grace of God, and God will have in His Grace everything you need for your salvation, or anything you might need to help another soul.

Elder Paisios the Athonite (1924-1994), First Epistle, 1973

A Word From The Desert, September 10, 2012

Standard | Posted on by

A man should know that a devil’s sickness is on him if he is seized by the urge in conversation to assert his opinion, however correct it may be. If he behaves this way while talking to his equals, then a rebuke from his elders may heal him. But if he carries on in this way with those who are greater and wiser than he, his sickness cannot be cured by human means.

St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent 4

A Word From The Desert, July 31, 2012

Standard | Posted on by

One of the fathers said: There is a monastic community near Nisibis (modern Nusaybin, a Kurdish city in southern Turkey), and the superior there is a great elder. The people of the community sowed and reaped much barley and this they shared with the other monasteries. Now it so happened that a commander, coming on a diplomatic mission from Persia, met the holy elder and was greatly edified by him. He endowed the community with an income of thirty pounds of gold. The brethren rejoiced, but they became totally unconcerned so far as the property was concerned. They sowed barley as usual, but the first year the land produced nothing; nor the second, nor the third. The brethren said to the abba, “What is going on? The earth does not produce barley like it used to.” The elder said to them, “We took the thirty pounds of gold and that is why the earth does not yield its fruit. ‘But go; sell all your property and give to the poor.’” The brothers did as the elder said, and the earth yielded up its fruit, and everyone glorified God.

John Moschus, Leimonarion (The Spiritual Meadow) 232
late sixth / early seventh centuries