To become theology

True theology is not about doctrines, but doctrines can be a by-product of true theology. Doctrines can also be the product of human thinking, of philosophical speculation. But theology is not about doctrines. Theology is about struggle. It is the result of man struggling with God.

And what of ikons? For those unacquainted with struggle, they are merely pictures to be venerated, doctrinal statements in paint to be affirmed with a kiss. ‘The Bible says this and this, and we’ve painted a picture of it. Here it is. Prove you believe it, and kiss the picture.’

But ikons are images of true theology. They are images of struggle, of man’s encounter with the living God, of what happens when the finite meets the Infinite, the mortal meets the Immortal, the created meets the Uncreated. There is always struggle. There can be nothing else.

‘The hospitality of Abram’ is an example of this. Those depicted do not seem to be struggling, but the formula is there: Man woman and unearthly Triad, two serving Three as One. Where is the struggle? Invisible but not inaudible.
She laughed, He heard.
Doubt bears faith, but not without a fight.

An event so completely ikonic as the wrestling of Jacob with the angel of Yahweh, yet we rarely see it. And why not? Can theology so immediate be depicted visually? And if it could be, could we venerate the image without being drawn into its fiery heart? That would be a miraculous ikon.

There is always struggle. There can be nothing else. This is the meaning of our entire existence as humans, else there is no meaning. The very thought only hints at the reality, but if we run from it, we voluntarily commit ourselves to annihilation. We either face Him or vanish into His shadow.

A poem I once had memorized but after many years have mostly forgotten ended with the line, ‘for I am man so I must fight, but You are God so You must win.’ The author of this poem, Orthodox presbyter Ihor Kutash, a few years my senior, was the first priest I ever met. He wrote what he knew.

There is a single purpose for every man and woman ever created, and that is to become theology. No, I did not say ‘to become a theologian.’ Nobody becomes that, except in name. Go to school and study theology, add letters after your names, and you are no wiser unto God than you were before.

To become theology, to struggle, to fight as befits your nature, to observe the Passover not in word only but in complete and perfect act, to expend yourself, to be consumed in the heat of battle, to be crushed and buried deep underground, to be sacrificed: that is what man is, else he is nothing at all.

‘For I am man so I must fight, but You are God so You must win.’

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Seas of leaving

Our elders were too busy, preoccupied with their shock of having survived a world war, having lived with a cold war, being saddled with more than they’d bargained for, bewildered by having as offspring the very people they’d warned their children to keep clear of—yes, too distracted to catch us as we fell.

The wind blew so strongly against their tents, they had to make sure their tent pegs were firmly planted in the earth. The sand blew so steadily in their faces they couldn’t see the sun anymore. They thought we were all safe inside like good children weathering it out. They never thought to look for us in the gradually growing dunes as we drifted away.

Singers wooed us. We were courted and cajoled to abandon our fathers’ tents, to come away with them to some other place, a paradise where we would be appreciated for who we really were or thought ourselves to be. They sang of a garden, invoking ancient memories we shared even with our elders, though they never spoke of them to us. So we listened to other voices.

Shall I go off and away to bright Andromeda?
Shall I sail my wooden ships to the sea?
Or stay in a cage of those in Amerika??
Or shall I be on the knee?
Wave goodbye to Amerika
Say hello to the garden…

So I see, I see the way you feel
And I know that your life is real
Pioneer, searcher, refugee
I follow you, and you follow me
Let's go together
Let's go together
Let's go together right now…

(Let’s Go Together, by Paul Kantner)

This was the time when the world was young, from our point of view, just as we were, and like bees who see nothing but flowers, we ignored whatever world around us that held no nectar, that was colored black and white, that belittled what we felt, thought and desired. We sought to escape, dreaming again of leaving.

Wooden ships on the water, very free and easy,
Easy, you know the way it's supposed to be,
Silver people on the shoreline, let us be,
We are leaving… you don't need us.

Horror grips us as we watch you die,
All we can do is echo your anguished cries,
Stare as all human feelings die,
We are leaving… you don't need us.

Go, take your sister then, by the hand,
lead her away from this foreign land,
Far away, where we might laugh again,
We are leaving… you don't need us.

(Wooden Ships, by David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Paul Kantner)

For me, it was leaving sleepless, sub-tropical summers and futureless, sub-arctic winters in rural Illinois, parents intent on tearing apart the vestiges of any childhood gladness I might have saved, a boring, dangerous and thankless job maintaining assembly line machinery in a prison-like factory.

So I set my face to the north and west, waved goodbye to my tearful mother who loved me too much for her own good, and migrated to a commune in Canada which, little could I have known, would collapse under the weight of personality disorders in a matter of months, leaving me stranded and almost friendless, a stranger in a strange land.

Still, I hadn’t learned my lesson, but still ached for paradise and crooned songs that sounded ancient and fed the witless dreams of a boy unable to grow up, groping for light, truth, peace and, yes, even love, in all the worst places, all the wrong ways. Sand of a different sort blinded my eyes, as it had blinded my elders.

Seasons they change, while cold blood is raining,
I have been waiting beyond the years,
Now over the sky line I see you are travelling,
Brothers from all times, gathering here.

Come let us build the ship of the future
In an ancient pattern that journeys far,
Come let us set sail for the always islands
Through seas of leaving to the summer stars…

(The Circle is Unbroken, by Robin Williamson)

Mesmerized, decapitated by songs such as these, with mystic beginnings and haunting refrains, still the glimmerings of truth were there, but how to sort them and separate them from the lies? We were still no closer than before to the garden or to the island.
Did such a place exist after all, whatever we called it?

A whole generation, abandoned in the sands of time, no better than its forefathers, and among them I, a nomad like all my ancestors.

I was a young man treading westward, always west. I left my home at age twenty-one and travelled north and west to Alberta, mimicking my grandfather who had left his home at the same age, taking ship at Hamburg and sailing west for America over a hundred years ago.
Neither of us ever looking back.

West, always west, unsuspecting that the world is round, and that the farthest West is the uttermost East. Seeking the paradise in the West, instead, the garden in the East appeared. And the wooden ships, well, only one was ever really necessary, as I finally found out.
It was the ark.

The unchanging Orthodoxy

Every believer is called to live theologically, and the whole body of the Church is creating theology in its life and its struggle.

Thus the ex cathedra of Orthodoxy, the way in which it expresses itself infallibly, is from the Cross.

The responsibility that is spread over the whole body of people is a cross. Apophatic theology is an ascent to Golgotha. The spiritual life of each believer which provides the overall balance is a cross. On the Cross, the Lord ‘stretched out His hands and united what had previously been sundered.’

From all this we see why every term has a different meaning in the mouth of a saint, a different weight and force; it is because he is born and lives in another world.

What commands his enthusiasm and concern is something altogether non-essential and unimportant to the present age, which comes and sees it, and passes by on the other side.

That which is the life, the joy and the certainty of the Orthodox, does not exist for the world: ‘The world will see Me no more, but you will see Me’ (John 14:19).

We are bound together by the common faith which, in accordance with tradition, each of us has found and finds personally through the exercise of his own responsibility—‘so each of us shall give account of himself to God’ (Romans 14:12)—and through the communion of the Holy Spirit.

The Church leaves the believer free to feel Christ dwelling within him;
free to live in fear on the sea of this present age;
free to be crushed by his responsibility;
free to cry out to the Lord, ‘Master, we perish,’ and to see Him in the night of the present age, walking on the waters for him personally and for the whole Church;
and free to hear the Lord say to him, ‘It is I.’

Archimandrite Vasileios, Hymn of Entry, pp. 50-52 passim

This is the Orthodoxy that we adhere to. This is the Orthodoxy that is the foundation of the world, as we proclaim on Orthodoxy Sunday.

This is the unchanging Orthodoxy of Jesus Christ, the holy apostles, the fathers, the martyrs and all the saints, of former ages, in this present time, and in the age to come.

This is not an Orthodoxy one can convert to. This is an Orthodoxy one finds enfolding him when he comes to Jesus.

Glory to You, our God, and our hope,
glory to You who have shown us the Light!

Out into the deep

In the closest following of Jesus, the miraculous is not only possible, it is inevitable. It is into a life of this kind of faith that we are called, but very few Christians even consider it.

‘Ordinary’ Christian faith usually means just ‘trust Jesus’ and ‘God will take care of everything, no need to worry.’

But this is not the kind of faith that Jesus is leading us to when He says, ‘I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, “Go, throw yourself into the sea,” and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him’
(Mark 11:22-23).

Brothers, yes, we are on the edge.

Yes, we are standing on the precipice of something miraculous.

We all are.

Some of us have stepped off into that ‘walk on the waters’ and have known that kind of faith, but it is too strong for our weak human nature, and we dash back to safety.

But the call doesn't go away, and when we have been strengthened, we go out again, following the call, into the realm where ‘all things are possible, if you only believe.’

Everything that Jesus said is true.

He wasn't joking when He said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.’

But neither was He joking when He said, ‘Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven’ (Matthew 18:19).

It's time now to go out into the deep.

Orthodox Calendar 2011

This is the pocket sized card calendar* I received in the mail today. You can download it, front and back, by left clicking twice (for maximum enlargement) and then right clicking once and selecting ‘Save image as’ to your computer, and print your own copy. The ikon used this year is my favorite, ‘Christ the Sower.’

* This is the version, used by Greek Orthodox and others, that is ‘old calendar’ for feasts and fasts related to Holy Pascha, and ‘new calendar’ for all the other feasts and fasts.

Impossible

The current tragedy of the assassination attempt against Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has attracted the vultures of shame to the bodies of those who were slain in the incident, the youngest of them a nine year old child, Christina Greene. May her memory, and those of the other victims, be eternal!

As for the vultures of shame, yes, the renowned haters and accusers calling themselves the Westboro Baptist Church are at it again. It’s not enough that they proclaim this violent act as God’s punishment on idolatrous America. They want to picket and defile this child’s funeral with their blasphemies.

Blasphemies? Yes, blasphemies. Why not return to them the ‘blessing’ with which they bless us, the infidels, the idolaters, of America. Their leader, Fred Phelps, who calls Billy Graham a false prophet even worse than Balaam, is not ashamed to play an even worse role.

He is a modern day Balak, the Moabite king who paid Balaam to curse Israel. Brother Phelps is not ashamed to stand with satan as an accuser of the brethren, and in the worst possible circumstances. That this man and his church call themselves Baptists or even Christians is a mockery of all that is Holy.

But they can’t help themselves. They’re a living proof that even within the Church there will be found those ‘who call evil good, and good evil.’ No one does this consistently, of course, otherwise even they would recognize the lie that they espouse for what it is. But truth the evil one mixes with falsehood.

‘Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,’ says the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:19). ‘And he said to them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men,’ says the Son of God, the Savior (Matthew 4:19).

Sinners, you have been screamed at, the image of God in you broken by your sins has nonetheless been blasphemed. Yes, we bid you, in Jesus’ name, turn from your sins, cleanse your wills of the desire to practice iniquity, reject violence against yourselves and others, practice peace.

Seek the Lord while He is still to be found, for He turns His loving and welcoming face towards you, in the persons of His ambassadors, who we are. Don’t look at your sins or your accusers, the elite of hell, but look to Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith—your faith, yes, that’s all that is required of you.

Let these others say and do impossible things, let them rave and wear themselves out condemning us and you. The earth will soon enough have her fill of their blasphemies committed in the name of God and His Christ. But their sacrifices are unacceptable, and their righteousness filthy rags.

There is still time. Don’t look at or listen to them. Seek the Lord while He is near. Open the doors of your hearts to Him who knocks. He stands outside your house desiring to enter in, to heal your infirmities, to cleanse your iniquities, to remove your shame, to dry the tears from your eyes.

Christ is the Lord, the only lover of mankind, and He is among us now, and will always be. There is a river whose streams refresh the City of God, and it sanctifies the dwellings of the Most High. God is inside the City, she can never fall. At crack of dawn, God helps her.

The impossible will yet continue to happen, but for a little while longer. Evil will be called good, and good evil. The Church is still here, hidden except to the eyes of faith. Acquire those eyes, brothers called before the foundation of the world by Him who died for us and for you.

Become the possible.

Worlds in collision

No, this post is not about the book or thesis of Worlds in Collision by Immanuel Velikovsky. It’s not about that kind of worlds, but it is about two worlds on collision course, throughout history, and in the very much ‘right now.’ Those two worlds are the world ‘ruled’ by the prince of darkness, and the world ruled by the King of kings of kings, the Holy One of Israel, the living God (blessed be He!).

God’s bare Truth can seem an impudent affront to the religious professional, that laborer in God’s vineyard who thinks he ‘is worthy of his hire’ (Luke 10:7), but to a minister of the Good News, a shepherd who ‘gives his life for the sheep’ (John 10:11) as does his Master, that bare Truth is ‘the treasure hidden in the field’ (Matthew 13:44) for the sake of which, he ‘has forsaken all, and followed the Lord’ (Luke 18:28).

The Body of Christ throughout the ages has seen plenty of in-fighting and strife. In fact, it had already reared its ugly head in apostolic times, and yes, even earlier when disciples grumbled against misuse of funds spent on Jesus (Mark 14:3-9), tried to jockey into positions of pre-eminence (Mark 10:35-40), or decided to abandon the call because the Master spoke outrageous things that they couldn’t accept (John 6:66).

But what did the Master say to expect? ‘Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword’ (Matthew 10:34), and ‘a man's enemies will be the members of his own household’ (Matthew 10:36). ‘Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!’ (Matthew 18:7 KJV).

It really is a cause for sadness, that a man who loves the Lord, loves the Word, lives a simple life of purity, walks in God’s ways, in short, who ‘seeks first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness’ might be considered a threat by professional clergy and told essentially to conform to the current ‘teachings’ or move on, yet we find this happening repeatedly in evangelical circles.

Notice, I said, professional clergy and not religious professionals.
I don't want to ‘dis’ any clergy ‘on the payroll’ who might read this.
In point of fact, I want to specifically assure them, that nothing I say here is a reflection on the pastors of my community.

It’s not impossible for professional clergy to work closely, harmoniously, supportively and safely with members of ‘their’ flock who are shown to be anointed by the Holy Spirit for ministry. In fact, a good pastor seeks out among the flock those members, male and female, young and old, new Christians and veterans, Greeks and non-Greeks with whom he can share the ministry.

Of course, he can do this only if he himself is anointed for ministry, because the Spirit in him must be able to discern the same Spirit in them, which honestly reveals them to each other, for the Lord’s work.

It is only when ministers of the Gospel have decided that ‘they are it,’ that quickly or slowly they devolve into hirelings and false watchmen. God save us from this! Instead may He send us true shepherds, pastors, of His flock!

My example of a true shepherd is Metropolitan Anthony of San Francisco (of blessed memory, who reposed on Christmas Day, 2005).
I remember one time when he was visiting our community, he stood in the doorway of the Gate Beautiful and cried out, ‘My children, come with us up to Mount Tabor, and see the Lord transfigured!’

He meant that we should not let the ordained clergy alone see Jesus face to face (in the Spirit) and serve Him alone, but that we should all come up!

On another occasion, walking among us in the ‘catacomb’ church of St. John the Forerunner, he spoke forcefully but with glistening, gentle eyes and a broad smile, ‘My children, you can do nearly everything that we priests can do! Join us in ministering to God’s people!’

Bishop Anthony did not scold, did not ‘guilt trip’ or belittle ‘his’ flock into taking action for Christ. He knew we are at all levels of maturity, commitment, and capacity. He merely loved us, and made us all feel what he felt in serving the Lord, and invited us all to join him and the presbyters and deacons who served with him. Metropolitan Anthony of San Francisco, originally Greek bishop of the Dardanelles, may his memory be eternal!

This is what we do, we do what the Lord has laid on our hearts to do, without fear, without boasting, without regard for men’s opinions, but ‘in fear of God, with faith and hope, we draw near’ to the Lord who dwells in the midst of the praises of Israel, by giving our voices to Him and His people, by reading aloud the Gospel and the other God-breathed scriptures to people passing by in various public places.

No man gave us this work to do. Did we give it to ourselves? Well, I suppose you can think that, or think whatever you like. What does it look like when you follow the call and word of Jesus? I suppose it all depends on where you’re looking at us from.

What of worlds in collision?

Yes, the two worlds will at times collide, whether we are in the ‘world’ or in the confines of the Church, because the battle lines are drawn right down the middle of each—the world and the Church—and down the middle of each of us (as Solzhenitsyn writes).

Our task as followers of Jesus is simple.
Just respond when He calls us and says, ‘Follow Me!’

He will not fail to teach us how to walk beside Him faithfully, how to love Him with an undivided heart, and He will without doubt make us to be ‘fishers of men.’

‘Gotta hear it from You

Why is it that I can somehow see through this world
why is it like I’m always looking through a window
why is it the people are so transparent, even their hearts
why do I feel my body and mind are just containers
why is it I still see when I stop my breathing
what is it in me still watches even when I’m sleeping
what is it I throw out of me when my eyes touch another’s
how can the empty behind the full be so abundant?

I’m not talking in symbols now.
No, I’m not trying to entertain you.
I’m not fooling with metaphysics.
No time left for me to play with you.
Just asking this simple question.
Just one word, one word only’ll do.
Just give me a permit for my profession,
but I’ve gotta hear it from you.

Where is the doorway to step out of this world machine
where is the gateway to get out of this walled city
where is the shallow where I can ford this stream, even now
where can I find the pass to lead me up out of this valley
where’s the court where I can go and get my hearing
why is it I still know that believing is just seeing
what is it in me still listens when my heart is hardened
how can the silence behind the song be so convincing?

I’m not walking in circles now.
No, I’ve got no place to go to meet you.
I’m not ruling out pilgrimages.
I only feel that maybe they’d unseat you.
Just asking this simple question.
Just one word, one word only’ll do.
Just give me a blessing at my confession,
but I’ve gotta hear it from you.

What is the meaning of this regular aberration
what is the purpose behind this persistent wrinkle
what is it, floating in my eyes, even when I shut them
what is it blocking my stubborn attempts at solution
what is the reason for my constant detention
why is it I still look in through the window
why have they left me alone here without a pass key
how can the darkness behind the light be so radiant?

I’m not talking in symbols now.
No, I’m not trying to entertain you.
I’m not dueling with mental itches.
No time for that unless I gain you.
Just asking this simple question.
Just one word, one word only’ll do.
Just give me the object of my obsession,
but I’ve gotta hear it from you.

— Romanós

Whose friend are we?

I am an Orthodox evangelist, but I do not witness for the Church.
I witness for Christ, and He witnesses for the Church.

Everything good and everything bad that can be found in any church of any denomination can also be found in some form or another within the Orthodox Church. None of the arguments pro and con convince me either way.

The Church is the Church is the Church. When God the Father looks at the Church the only people He sees there are those whom He has drawn to His Son Jesus, and no others.

Why?
Because that is, by definition plain and simple, who and what the Church is.

That being said, I also say, the Church has never been divided, and can never be, because Christ prays for its unity to His Father, and the Father always grants His Son's request. If any of us think the Church has been divided, then he's got a problem.

From Christ's point of view, Orthodoxy doesn't even exist. All He knows about is His precious and faithful Bride whom He has been adorning and perfecting through suffering all these centuries, and He's getting ready, now, to take her into the Wedding Chamber.

Yes, I am an Orthodox Christian, but all that means is, I am finally freed from the war of words that absorbs so much of the strength and energy and resources of the Christian community at large. I am free, literally, to go anywhere, to be all things to all men, because I have found the Door, and I can always get back to my world through that Door, as long as I don't stray from the Lamppost.

Orthodox Christianity is not a denomination, and it would be better if Christians inside and outside of her would just stop using the name ‘Orthodox’ if it is being used as a knife to slice up the Body of Christ.

Don't you think that the spirit in me recognizes the spirit in another man whether he even calls himself a Christian or not, as being my brother in Christ?

We all know who it is we have believed in. We know the voice of the Shepherd when we hear it, whether it comes from the pulpit in our local church, or out there in the unchurched, maybe unchurchable, wilds. We also know when we hear the words of the hireling, and see his acts, even when they appear in the very same places of churchly ministry or authority.

In Christ we are a meek and faithful bunch, but in the world we are the most anarchistic and uncooperative of mankind. It's no wonder the world hates us, whether we are Orthodox or not, Christian or not, religious or not, articulate or not.

The important thing is, whose friend are we? God's or the world's.

Once this is decided, all the obstacles to our life in Christ and in the Church disappear... All the obstacles we've put there, I mean.
Yes, once we cross that imaginary line, the devil can be depended on to do his work.

But do not be afraid, little flock, for it has pleased the Father to bestow upon us the Kingdom.

To suffer for something

I do not watch many movies, and I haven't watched either of the two films reviewed in the following post which I am borrowing from Alternative Right, but I have seen and appreciated another film by the same Aronofsky, the spectacularly surreal The Fountain. What struck me in this essay about the two films, The Wrestler, and Black Swan, was the author's penetration of the inner meaning of both films. It is a theme common to all humanity, whether one is an 'idolator' (as he calls it), or a believer in God or a religious ideal. It is to suffer for something…

Darren Aronofksy's remarkable new movie Black Swan is a companion piece to his equally striking 2009 offering, The Wrestler. The two films take place in settings that could not possibly be more different, yet each tells essentially the same story, a story that is undeniably relevant to our age and culture.

In both, the protagonist is an artist fanatically attached to his craft, to the exclusion of all else in life, even his own well-being. The bulked-up, over-the-hill professional wrestler portrayed by Mickey Rourke can't fathom giving up the career that once brought him stardom and acclaim, even though it's led to his physical deterioration, late middle-age decrepitude, and severe heart problems. Meanwhile, the outwardly frail, inwardly driven and emotionally obsessive Broadway ballerina played by Natalie Portman dances on the very edge of mental collapse, her behavior increasingly erratic, marked by bouts of frightening hallucinations and episodes of queasy self-abuse.

Rourke's character parks his trailer among the down-home Red State denizens of the pro-wrestling circuit, while Portman's dwells with the Blue State New York cultural cognoscenti, but Aronofsky evinces no chauvinism for one society over the other, and both films are utterly bereft of any taint of condescension. The setting, while meticulously detailed and enjoyably authentic, is merely backdrop, however; the real story concerns the central character's willful self-destruction for the sake of his art.

Depressing as such a premise may sound, it is worth noting that the tragic denouement in both movies is paradoxically shot through with an exquisite jolt of exhilaration and triumph. The hero's determination to achieve artistic perfection at the cost of his health and sanity may expose him as spectacularly imprudent, but it inspires us just the same. There is indeed a grand romanticism to such gestures, one that temporarily shakes us out of our postmodern spiritual torpor and moves us to admiration.

One thinks of Hamlet's self-disgust at his own inaction, leading him to indict the couch potato mentality particularly endemic to so many in our age:

What is a man
If his chief and market of his time
Be but to sleep and
feed? A beast, no more.

Aronofsky's doomed wrestler and fated ballerina may be depraved idolaters, suffering as they do for no great purpose beyond personal fame and glory, but by damn, they are at least willing to suffer for something. They throw themselves with crazy abandon into their roles, ultimately not caring that the consequences for their monomania will be grave indeed.

Both movies caused me to think of Yukio Mishima's excruciatingly brilliant short story "Patriotism," in which a young, right-wing revolutionary attempts to restore what he regards as Japan's lost imperial majesty. He fails in his task, then commits seppuku—an act the narrative describes in horrifying detail—as a final gesture of fidelity to his cause.

To be sure, Mishima's hero is a step above Aronofsky's single-minded protagonists, since he seeks not his own glory, but rather that of his nation. Still, there is an undeniable whiff of desperation about his self-inflicted ritual disembowelment. This brave man seeks, and finds, honor in death, but not transcendence; such can only be gained by dying for TRUTH, as opposed to mere aesthetics or ideology.

While such deaths as these are in a sense noble and tragic, they do not amount to martyrdom. To be a martyr, one must be willing to give one's life for faith. And in order to die for faith, one must first live for it. Which isn't easy to do in the midst of a culture that sees hedonism as healthy and self-denial as neurotic.

Yet one suspects that even Aronofsky—by all accounts a secular Jew—sees through to the heart of the dilemma. In The Wrestler, Mickey Rourke's stripper girlfriend (Marisa Tomei) enthuses over his numerous bruises, and remarks how they remind her of this kick-ass movie she saw called The Passion of the Christ, which featured in its preface a line from the Bible: "By his wounds we were healed."

It is unclear whether or not Tomei's character knows the significance of the words she speaks, but Aronofsky is clearly using Mel Gibson's controversial classic (whose gory and ballsy aesthetic he clearly appreciates) to underscore the difference between true, redemptive and transcendent suffering inspired by faith, and its counterfeit, whereby one sacrifices one's flesh for no real purpose. While the latter may show guts and inspire pathos, its resonance is ultimately only negative and nihilistic; it is full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

We can, and should, do better. Let us struggle to lead good lives, and when the time comes, to die good deaths, never betraying what we ardently believe to be true.

— by Andy Nowicki

Trisagion

Αγιος ο Θεός, Αγιος Ισχυρός, Αγιος Αθάνατος, ελέησον ημάς.
Aghios o Theós, Aghios Is’chyrós, Aghios Athánatos, eléïson imás.
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us!

One only is Holy, but He is God, He is Mighty, and He is Deathless. Not three Holies, but One, we know Him as God the Father, as His Mighty Son, and as His Deathless Holy Spirit. Even in this most ancient of all prayer cries, the undivided Triad is manifest. The undivided Trinity, as believed in and lived in the Holy Church for, yes, we do not presume to know the how, but the Who, of God.

We know that God is One. This is no secret even to the polytheist if he is a thinking man. Humankind did not evolve an idea of One God by gradually adding spirit to spirit, god to god, by a sort of mathematical reduction. If anyone has arrived at the idea of such a ‘one god’ in this fashion, that ‘god’ is certainly not the God of the Bible, not the God of Jesus Christ.

No, for the only God that is, the self-existing Divine Nature, revealed through His manifold works, the material universe and seen by the mind of rational men, was at the beginning with man, just as the Bible tells in the story of Adam and Eve and the original paradise. ‘The man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day…’ (Genesis 3:8).

It was the devil’s envy that brought death into the world, as well as the worship of many gods. Man devolved from relational monotheism to religious polytheism. Religion in the Garden of Eden? Hardly! What would be the need? There God walked with man and spoke to us face to face. Religion only came upon our race as sickness comes, a sickness called sin that brings death.

Human beings the world over have always believed in the immortality of the soul, but this is an unfounded belief. It is more of a hope, and a vain hope, as there is no proof in nature of our personal survival of death. ‘Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?’ (Ecclesiastes 3:21). We find ancient graves well-stocked for living somewhere.

Almost all religions believe something like this: ‘The soul of man is immortal and cannot die.’ This is what you find among Hindus, for example, who believe what is taught by their god Krishna, ‘That which pervades the entire body you should know to be indestructible. No one is able to destroy that imperishable soul’ (Bhagavad Gita 2:17). For them, the ‘imperishable soul’ lives on through reincarnation.

For others, especially in East Asia, the souls of their ancestors are alive ‘somewhere’ and must be appeased, cared for, and helped. This is the most prevalent belief of most of humanity. In the three ‘Abrahamic’ faiths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, this belief takes on added content: the good ‘go to heaven’ at death, the bad ‘go to hell.’ This is, of course, at the level of popular religion.

As C. S. Lewis has written, ‘To believe in the popular religion of modern England is retrogression — like believing the earth is flat’ (Mere Christianity, Book 4, Chapter 1), and the same is true of the popular religion of the biblically illiterate everywhere. For many people, it’s just not worth the time and effort to learn and understand the truths of faith, what man is, who God is, and how He deals with us.

The soul of man, despite our wishful thinking, our pious hopes, and our individual speculations, is not immortal by nature. Only One is Immortal, just as only One is God, and only One is Mighty. Having been originally made in His image, our first parents shared in the Divine Nature, in Might, and in Immortality, but by their rebellion, the image of God in them and us was broken.

We are born into a fallen world, disfigured, that is, dis-imaged, damaged, and what would have been an immortal soul in us, is immortal no longer, by nature.

We live and move and have our being only in God, only by His grace, only by His gift, only by His remembrance of us. Why else do we find in the psalms the petition to ‘remember us’, why else did the thief say to Christ, ‘remember me’?

We are living souls only by the good will of our Creator, who remembers us in life and in death. The soul of man, as it turns out, is immortal after all, but not by nature. Our lives are in His hands. Whether we are alive in the body or gone to ‘be with the Lord’, it is all by His will, by His mercy. How totally we are dependent on Him for everything! Knowing He loves us removes the fear of death.

When we pray the Trisagion, ‘Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us!’ how true this prayer is, how wonderful that it has been revealed to us! We can depend on God, in fact He expects us to depend on Him, for everything, especially for our earthly life, and for the immortality that only He can grant us. There is so much more I would say if I could, but all I can say is, Thank You, Lord.

A reason to believe

A Christian brother posted this observation on his blog today,

We have loads of apologetics books, websites and speakers out there, many of whom try to prove that the Bible is the Word of God. Calvin says this is essentially a waste of time:

But it is foolish to attempt to prove to infidels that the Scripture is the Word of God. This it cannot be known to be, except by faith.

This short post provoked a comment,

As usual, I disagree with Calvin. Honest doubts deserve intelligent answers. Not everyone is looking for an excuse not to believe; some are actually looking for a reason to believe.

Now, I don’t deal in ‘agree or disagree’ but I have experienced Calvin’s observation, and it is true. I also think I understand what the commentator is saying. But if I have an honest doubt, it is this:
I am not sure there is such a thing as ‘honest doubt,’ at least when it comes to matters pertaining to God.

In my case I never dared call my lack of faith ‘honest doubt’ because I knew it was an amalgam of laziness and prejudice. The world we are all born into encourages diligence when it comes to earthly things, and sloth when it comes to heavenly. It also presents us with the most unfavorable opinion of divine things at almost every turn, so much so that we are little aware of how prejudiced we are. We call this taking the easy way out ‘having an open mind,’ but as with all drastic inversions, the claim is so forceful that we’d feel ashamed to challenge it, so we just go along.

I also have an honest doubt that most people are looking for a reason to believe. In my limited experience of fifty nine years, thirty five of them as a follower of Jesus, I would say that it seems much more plausible that most people are looking for reasons not to believe. Down to this very day, people I talk to at my job who claim they have been terrorized by ‘church’ and disgusted by ‘Christians’ never tire of telling me why they can’t or won’t believe in God.

I always think back to a dialog I read once, where after his death an unbeliever faces Jesus who asks him, ‘What kept you from believing in Me?’ The recently reposed says, ‘It really wasn’t my fault. All those Christians behaved so badly, and their church was just a club where they could play games and feel superior.’ And Jesus replies, ‘So that’s what has kept you out of heaven?’

That dialog always brings to mind the saying of brother Giles of Assisi, ‘To lose heaven is not to lose a shoe string.’

I have a saying of my own. ‘God is looking not for a reason to condemn us, but for a reason to save us.’

By that, what I think I mean to say is, God isn’t a cosmic policeman watching our every move so He can cast us into the outer darkness at our slightest slip up. Instead, He is a loving gardener who goes back to look carefully and persistently (and very patiently) at His little patch of earth to see if any of the seeds He’s planted have come up yet. He is looking diligently for our souls, no matter how small they are, so that He can pour His love over us lavishly, tending us carefully in the hope that He will have children with whom He can share the splendor of His Divine Nature.

If that isn’t a reason to believe, I don’t know what is.

The Light

Comparative religions can be an interesting pastime. I myself know a lot about non-Christian and Christian religions. In all these religions there is present the universal longing of the human soul for God, but only in Christianity is that longing fulfilled with certainty—that is, if you really do meet Christ, receive His call, and follow Him.

It is impossible to compare Jesus Christ to any world teacher. Both Christ and the world teachers—gurus, prophets, swamis, whatever they call themselves—have teachings. Both Christ and many of the world teachers perform miracles. Both Christ and the world teachers as well as some of the pagan gods have disciples and worshipers who, like our holy elders, seem to have supernatural powers and gifts.

But Elder Païsios is no guru, neither are any of our other holy elders and eldresses. They are just simple people who by faith have conquered themselves and found the royal road of Christ's holy Cross. I want to be like them, and not because of their miraculous powers, but because of their utter abandonment to the will of God.

I too have met Orthodox Christians who have sought religious experiences and proofs of God in other religions. I admit that in my teenage years and early twenties I did too. But these other paths are just that, paths, treadmills actually. They are not the royal road of Christ's holy Cross, nor are they the Way, which is not a thing but a Person, the Person with whom, in whom, and by whom ‘we live and move and have our being,’ our Lord Jesus Christ, who living on earth as a mere man and accepting mortality, proved by His resurrection from the dead that He was no mortal, but the Eternal, living God of Israel and of the whole universe, and also its Creator and its Renewer.

‘Glory to You who have shown us the Light...’

Kαλημέρα πάντες

Εν Ιορδάνη βαπτιζομένου σου Κύριε

η της Τριάδος εφανερώθη προσκύνησις

του γαρ Γεννήτορος η φωνή προσεμαρτύρει Σοι

αγαπητόν Σε Υιόν ονομάζουσα

και το Πνεύμα εν είδει περιστεράς

εβεβαίου του λόγου το ασφαλές

Ο επιφανείς Χριστέ ο Θεός

Και τον κόσμον φωτίσας δόξα Σοι

When Thou, O Lord, wast baptized in the Jordan,

The worship of the Trinity wast made manifest.

For the voice of the Father bore witness unto Thee,

Calling Thee the beloved Son,

And the Spirit in the form of a dove

Confirmed His word as sure and steadfast.

O Christ our God who hast appeared

And enlightened the world, glory to Thee.

—Apolytikion of Theophany, 6 January

The Church has its appointed chants for the feast of Christ's baptism in the Jordan River by the honorable prophet and forerunner John, which we hear during the services at this time of year, but not very often do we hear any of the kalanta, the carols, that used to be sung at this time of year, which is still part of the Nativity season. My favorite is Kαλημέρα πάντες. Click here to play an audio recording of this carol. The words are below. (On some systems, it may download/save the file, and then you can open and play it.)

Kαλημέρα πάντες, ω αδελφοί,

ακούσατε την σήμερον εορτήν.

Σήμερον τα Φώτα και εορτή

και λαμπρά ημέρα Δεσποτική.

Kαλημέρα, καλημέρα,

καλή σου μέρα αφέντη με την κερά.

Eν αρχή ως ήρχισεν ο Θεός

έκτισε την γην και τον ουρανόν,

ύστερον δε πάλιν από αυτά

έκαμε τα ζώα και τα φυτά,

έκαμε την θάλασσαν, ποταμούς,

τον Mέγα Iορδάνην και αλλουνούς.

Kαλημέρα, καλημέρα,

καλή σου μέρ’ αφέντη με την κερά.

O Aδάμ και η Eύα ημάρτησαν

και εις αμαρτίαν υπέπεσαν,

την απάτη στον όφι την έριξαν

και του Θεού δεν είπαν πως έφταιξαν.

Αλλ’ ο όφις ήταν ο διάβολος,

των πονηρών δαιμόνων διδάσκαλος.

Mα και Iησούς ο φιλάνθρωπος

ήλθεν εις τον κόσμον ως άνθρωπος

δια να λυτρώσει πάντας ημάς

από αυτάς τας χείρας τας μυαράς.

Και τον Iωάννην εζήτησε

και στο βάπτισμά του τον έκραξεν.

Iωάννη Πρόδρομε σε ζητώ

στον Mέγαν Iορδάνην να βαφτιστώ.

Kαι ο Iωάννης του έλεγε

και σφοδρώς το σώμα του έτρεμε.

Πώς να σε βαπτίσω, ω λυτρωτά,

όπου η χειρ μου τρέμει και δειλιά,

πώς τολμώ να βάλω την χείρα μου

εις την κορυφή του Σωτήρα μου.

Άφες φόβον, Πρόδρομε, σου ζητώ

στον Mέγαν Iορδάνην να βαπτισθώ.

Tότε τον βαπτίζει ο Bαπτιστής

κι έλαμψεν η έρημος παρευθύς

Kαι το Πνεύμα ως είδος περιστεράς

και λευκής και ωραίας και καθαράς

και φωνή ηκούσθη εκ του Πατρός,

Ούτος είν’ υιός μου αγαπητός

και τα Xερουβείμ θυμιάζουσι

και τα Σεραφείμ τον δοξάζουσι.

Δια τούτο πάντες, ω αδελφοί,

ακούσατε την σήμερον εορτήν,

να την εορτάσωμεν αδελφοί

ότι είναι ημέρα Δεσποτική.

You cannot be too gentle

You cannot be too gentle, too kind.
Shun even to appear harsh in your treatment of each other.
Joy, radiant joy, streams from the face of him who gives
and kindles joy in the heart of him who receives.
All condemnation is from the devil.
Never condemn each other…
Instead of condemning others, strive to reach inner peace.
Keep silent, refrain from judgment.
This will raise you above the deadly arrows of slander, insult,
and outrage and will shield your glowing hearts against all evil.

— Seraphim of Sarov

The saint's feast day was yesterday, and I missed it!
(I should be ‘old calendar’… I think it might work better for me!)

Jerusalem Bible Psalter

The Jerusalem Bible, the original edition published in 1966, is not available anywhere on the internet, though the original French version can be read on line (but not downloaded) at Editions du Cerf. The English edition has the notoriety of being condemned as not literal enough, and so it was replaced by the New Jerusalem Bible in 1985.

I have been using the Jerusalem Bible since about 1970, and I have prayed the psalms from this version for almost as long. They are ingrained in my memory and woven into the very fabric of my life.
I still believe that this translation of the scriptures is the most dynamic I've ever encountered, and the Psalms especially well-adapted for prayer.

Praying the psalms on a thirty day cycle provides one with a prayer rule that deepens day by day, year by year, one's personal relationship with the Lord. I have started two new blogs that will publish on line the entire psalter of the Jerusalem Bible on the thirty day cycle, as well as a parallel blog of the Tehillim, the Hebrew Psalter.

Why do I do this? No, I am not a messianic Jew, nor a Jew at all, but I am an ‘original languages bible’ man. I love the Greek New Testament and the Hebrew Old Testament. I'm also familiar with the Greek Old Testament and appreciate it very much, but I find that praying the psalms in Hebrew, with understanding, is a real blessing.

The ancient Church father, Jerome, prayed the Psalms in the original Hebrew with a small convent of nuns under his charge in Bethlehem. For Jerome, reading the Bible with understanding was of the utmost importance. He wrote, ‘To live amongst these [the books of the Bible], to meditate on them, to know nothing else, to seek nothing else—does not this seem to you a corner of heaven already on earth?’ And he noted that as you read the Bible, you are listening to God—just as in praying, you speak to God. Reading the Bible and prayer belong together—one passes from one to the other, in dialog with God.

The two new blogs are, of course, a work in progress. I hope to finish at least the Jerusalem Psalter by the end of this month, publishing the psalms that I am praying every day of the month. The Tehillim blog may take a little longer, but in the end, both blogs will allow you, brethren, to pray the psalms on a daily basis in English and, if you are adventurous, in Hebrew as well. You can switch back and forth between English and Hebrew by means of a link in the upper right corner of each psalm. The Hebrew psalms are presented in the original Aramaic script, as well as a transliteration for those who cannot read Aramaic script. The Hebrew psalms also have an audio link. You can hear the psalm in Hebrew by clicking on LISTEN.

My major work for today was setting up these two blogs, publishing Day 1 of the Jerusalem Psalter, and the first five psalms of Day 1 in the Tehillim. I hope that some of you, at least, will find my efforts useful. To live in the Word of God is the best of all worlds, as Jerome writes, and so I make this small offering of my time for the new year of our Lord two thousand eleven.

Μακραν εγγυς - Far… near

Νυνι δε εν Χριστω Ιησου υμεις οι ποτε οντες μακραν εγγυς εγενηθητε εν τω αιματι του Χριστου.
But now in Christ Jesus, you that used to be so far apart from us have been brought very near, by the blood of Christ.

Ephesians 2:13

Far… How hard, how painful it is to hear this word that describes the state of separation! Whether it be our state before we meet the Lord, or whether it be our state after, it doesn't matter. In either case, it is sin that separates us from Him. Why is this? Because a holy God demands holiness in us, ‘I am the LORD your God; sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy’ (Leviticus 11:44), and not only under the old Law, but even under the Law of Christ, for apostle Peter writes the same, ‘Be holy, for I am holy’ (1 Peter 1:16).

The ancient Church was far more rigorous than the Church today, yet they too had Christ and lived the life of grace, not works. Here follows an excerpt from the book An Interpretation of the Divine Liturgy Based on Actual Events and Experiences of Holy Priests, Monks and Lay People by Protopresbyter Stephanos K. Anagnostopoulos. When writing about the litany of the catechumens he explains the different categories of penitents. This was posted in Fr Milovan's blog Again and Again, and it was too good not to share.

What a discipline the ancient Church exercised within herself! Why am I drawn to say, ‘This is the good way,’ even though I might find myself in one of these categories of penitents? I would rather that the Church today could speak, act and live under such authority, so that she would reflect her Lord even more, of whom they said, ‘What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey Him!’ (Mark 1:27).

Thank you, Fr Milovan, for again bringing our attention to something very important. This is not merely a historical curiosity. We must think within ourselves, as the Church, ‘Why are we not living like this?’ And then, after thinking, praying, let us act as the Lord directs. His Word to us is always fresh and true, and we should always be like young plants awaiting eagerly the Sun of Righteousness and the Water of Life. These are only in Jesus. Then we can truly begin to grow and bear fruit.

Different Categories of Penitents

Firstly: The excommunicated. The Church would cut them off completely from its Body and considered them as dead. Only after a repentance that was big and proven in action after they had confessed and signed a libel, would they again be received in her bosom. Moreover, “the ones who had denied God through sin” belonged to this category. According to the sacred Canons, those who were absent from Divine Worship for three Sundays consecutively without any serious reason – like health reasons – were excommunicated as well. Today this measure has been abolished. In those days it was applied and thus its results were beneficial. The Church would decide, and the Christians were totally obedient.

Secondly: The crying and afflicted. It concerned those who had committed deadly sins, who remained outside the Temple, in the countryside, come winter or summer (in snow, rain, cold weather, hail or extreme heat) and would ask from the Christians that would enter the Church, in lots of tears, on their knees, to pray so that God would forgive them. They would not even take Antidoron.

Thirdly: Those who fall. Inside the Temple those “falling” were constantly on their knees, even on Sundays. Due to the large number of sins they had committed they would only receive the bishop’s blessing – if there was one – or that of the priest who would perform the Liturgy, and would depart from the Church together with the Catechumens.

Fourthly: Those who stand in obedience. They are the majority of Christians today who are under a certain penance that forbids them to receive Holy Communion. They attend the Holy Liturgy until the end and take Antidoron.

There was another category of Christians who stood in obedience. They were inside the Temple during Divine Worship, they communed Immaculate Sacraments but the Church forbade them to knead prosphoron bread, that is to say, bring Precious Gifts for sanctification (offertory, nama = the wine used in the Holy Eucharist, candle, oil…) to the Temple.

Fifthly: Another category of Christians, who also remained in the Nave, departed the Holy Table together with the Catechumens. It was those who were under the influence of unclean spirits. On the one hand, they were baptized but demon-possessed.

The “Apostolic Injunction” says the following about them: When the deacon proclaimed “As many as are catechumens, depart. Depart, catechumens”, also addressing those who were under the influence of unclean spirits, he would say: “Pray for those who are under the influence of unclean spirits. Earnestly, all of you, pray for them so that our Befriended God through Jesus Christ rebukes the unclean and evil spirits and delivers His supplicants from strange authority… Those who are influenced, depart.” In other words, let them also depart. This ancient liturgical order like so many others, waned or rather was abolished.

(….)

Sixthly: the hearers. The hearers could have been the Jews or heathen idolaters who used to enter the Narthex to listen to and see the first part of the Divine Worship – and to especially attend the homily – and afterwards together with the Catechumens they would step out of the Holy Temple and the congregation.

While those crying and afflicted would remain outside, the hearers, even though they could have been Jews or heathen idolaters, would step into the Narthex!

The deacon would say aloud to the “hearers”: “Let none of the hearers remain. Let none of the unfaithful. Depart…”

During the moment of their departure the Celebrant used to pray with fervor for them, so that they would not feel embittered, supplicating: “That the Lord God, the All-Merciful, may open the ears of their hearts… catechize them with the word of truth… grant them a virtuous life…etc.”

The interest of the Church for the “hearers” was real to the point that most of them would depart the holy congregation of the Divine Worship with tears in their eyes. During these prayers the people used to chant multiple times and in a spirit of devoutness the prayer “Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy.”

Μαθητεύσατε πάντα τα εθνη

Make disciples of all nations

Matthew 28:19

Εγγυς - Near

I can’t help it. I love the Church. I don’t care if she is imperfect.
I can’t help it if she’s all too human. What would you have her be?
She can only be what she is, but by faith,
she will be what Christ, her divine Bridegroom, has made her.
Yes, she is His Bride, she, and no other.

The apostle writes,
‘Do not stay away from the meetings of the community,
as some do, but encourage each other to go;
the more so as you see the Day drawing near’ (Hebrews 10:25).

What if the meetings of the community are occasions
for glorying in the flesh?
What if going to them angers and upsets you?

Well, ask yourself then, ‘Why is this?’

What are you doing
that you notice the glorying in the flesh of the brethren?
Who is it that you have your eyes on,
them, yourself, or the Lord?

Ask yourself, ‘Who am I to be angry?
And why should I be angry?’
Who is being offended? Who is offending?

To offend is a choice, to be offended, the same. Yet God, who has the greatest and most just cause to be offended by our sinful thoughts, words and deeds, He forbears. The ‘righteous’ put themselves forward to castigate and judge the unrighteous, and the ‘correct’ advance to rebuke those who offend them.

All the while, the eye is not single, the body is not full of light, in the one who lets himself be offended by the folly of others, in the Church, or in the world, it doesn’t matter.

‘When you go to the temple, be on your guard.
Go near, so that you can hear;
the sacrifice is more valuable than the offering of fools,
even if they are unaware of doing wrong’ (Ecclesiastes 4:17).

I know whom it is that I have trusted,
I know in whom I have believed.
I know the truth He speaks, and that truth is strong to save,
as He has said, and sets me free.

Free from what?
Free from judgment, free from fear, free from ignorance,
free from hatred, free from every bondage
to what can be seen, heard, touched, tasted or thought.

How can one say he loves God and His Christ,
while he hates the Church?
Perhaps he hasn’t yet grasped what the Church is.
Perhaps he only hates the false images of the Church
that have tucked themselves into the corners of his mind.
Perhaps he thinks that the Church is only what he sees.

The world thinks that Jesus Christ is only what it sees.
The world thinks He’s just a man.
Looking past His miracles
because ‘just a man’ can’t perform miracles,
‘It must be sleight of hand—He’s just tricking us!’

So the Church too is only what he sees.
A broken down, corrupt, self-centered society of hypocrites.

‘They’re just a bunch of hypocrites!
They’re just play-acting, pretending to be sinners
so they can pretend that they’re saved!’

Looking past their miracles—hypocrites can’t perform miracles
—he focuses on what he’s chosen to see,
just as he’s chosen to be offended.
It’s a vicious circle, literally.

Yet the Church, like Christ her Divine Bridegroom, is different on the inside than she appears on the outside. Her exterior may be plain, it may be rude, it may be disfigured, as it is written of her Spouse,
‘His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and His form marred beyond human likeness’ (Isaiah 52:14)
that He was not recognized for who He was.

So it is with the Church. Those who look only at her outside never really enter her and see her from the inside. Even when they seem to enter her, they still stand apart as her judge, just as Pilate while in the presence of Christ stood apart, and asked mockingly,
‘What is truth?’

The Bible cannot be understood outside of the Church,
nor dogma outside of divine worship.
Neither of these, not the Church nor its worship,
are within our control as followers of Jesus.
All that is within our control is our own wills,
and free will was granted to us as a test of our being.

Do we chose to take offense and give offense through the abuse of our free wills, or do we choose to follow the commandment?
‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself’ (Luke 10:27).

And who is our neighbor?
It is everyone we meet, and not least our brothers in the faith,
with whom we are joined in one body, the Body of Christ, the Church,
to whom the apostle writes,
‘my greetings to the Lady,
the chosen one, and to her children,
she whom I love in the truth’ (2 John 1).

This is why I say, I love the Church. This is why I encourage you too, brethren, to love her. Don’t set yourselves up over her to judge her, but treat her as Christ has treated you, overlooking your sins and giving you time to repent. This is what John the Revelator means when he writes,

Happy the man who reads this prophecy aloud, and happy those who listen to him, if they keep all that it says, because the time is near.
Revelation 1:3

According to Abba Dorotheos…

When we suffer something unpleasant from our best friend, we know that he did not do it intentionally and that he loves us.

We must think likewise of God, Who created us, for our sake incarnated, and died for our sake having endured enormous suffering. We must remind ourselves that He does everything from His goodness and from His love for us.

We may think that while our friend loves us, in not having sufficient good sense in order to do everything correctly, he therefore involuntarily hurt us.

This cannot be said of God because He is the highest wisdom. He knows what is good for us and accordingly, directs everything for our benefit, even in the smallest things.

It can also be said that although our friend loves us and is sufficiently sensible, he is powerless to help us.

But this certainly cannot be said of God, because to Him everything is possible and nothing is difficult for Him. Consequently, we know that God loves us and shows clemency toward us, that He is eternally wise and omnipotent. Everything that He does, He does for our benefit, and we should accept it with gratitude as from a Benefactor, even though it may appear to be grievous.

— Abba Dorotheos of Gaza, one of the Desert Fathers

Ancient

The ancient world is not dead. No, it is alive and well. It lives on, even today, in people who know how to live deeply, faithfully, with a perennial sense of wonder, and with heartfelt thanks to the Creator.

We moderns, or post-moderns some of us, think that humanity has reached the pinnacle of its greatness. Some are so sure of this that they cannot imagine us going any higher, and so they prophesy imminent collapse. There will always be worry warts.

The truth is, I believe, that humanity has not reached a pinnacle, though we may be very close, as a herd of animals, to possibly the broadest and most universal famine of spiritual and creative vitality that history has ever seen.

Western civilisation’s leaders seem either quite willing to hand us over to annihilation, or incapable of realizing that we are poised so close to the edge. The edge of what?

As usual, barbarians ring us and are closing in more and more tightly. The collapse of meaningful language has let truth skip away from us. We no longer have the vocabulary to let us identify who the enemy really is. We swat at flies while predators eye us from the bush.

But as I said, the ancient world is not dead. The modern world with all its glamour and its clamor—is there a difference?—is actually an interruption of true civilization, one of those dark ages that we read about in the history books. Dark ages don’t seem dark to the people living in them sometimes.

So we think our technical advancements are terrific? Yes, they are, at least some of them. It flatters us to think that though we might share plumbing, flushing toilets, and central heating with some of our more illustrious predecessors, they didn’t have cars, airplanes, open-heart surgery or cell phones.

And though we look for other intelligent life forms among dolphins and whales and in the far reaches of outer space, we seem to have forgotten to look for intelligence among those of our own species. Instead, we burn ourselves out as fuel to promote our culture of consumption.

In the jungle, in the mountains, on land nobody wants, among people that no one thinks worth bothering about, in the islands of the sea, the ancient world is still alive. There are people in remote places still free, still human, speaking not with forked tongue or double heart.

They don’t care that they haven’t got cell phones. Few of them need open heart surgery. Most of them would rather live and take their chances against nature than be turned into cyborgs, part human, part device. Sure, many of them have indoor plumbing, electricity and central heating, but they could as easily live without.

I sit in my darkening house, eying peacefully the onset of night, simply enjoying the evening. I don’t light a lamp unless there’s something I need to look at closely. My ears are unplugged from constant music because I want to hear the world of sound.
I won’t be a prisoner of time.

The rain falls. I feel it coolly anointing my head, face, my bare torso as I walk through the forest trees. The air is brisk and cold, but inside I am warm. I am a citizen of the world. This is my planet. This is where I was born, where I belong. I am at home here.
I can’t be curfewed.

I am an ancient man. I read and write books. I think. I meditate on the words of holy and divine scripture. I am patient. I can wait for the interruption of the ancient world to end, and end it will. I will live to see it. I am living in it now, but it will increase as light increases, as light is always stronger than darkness, without struggling, by only shining.

The snow of this morning fell amply and coated trees, fields and streets with whiteness. It came quickly and forcefully and then, just as quickly, but quietly, melted away. Now the world is moist with its melting, drinking in the liquid potion of its renewed life.

Now the light is breaking. It will be fully day soon.
The ancient world is alive because only what is ancient is perennially renewed. It is coming, and this is no poem. This is faith, trust and certainty in the loving providence of God. He is our God, and we are the people He pastures, the flock that He guides.
‘Our Redeemer’ is His ancient name.
The God who loves me is coming.

“And there was evening, and there was morning—day one.”
Genesis 1:5