Desire the right

‘Why do you call me good?’ Jesus answered. ‘No one is good—except God alone.’
Luke 18:19

I am a Christian, and so, in common with most other people who identify with this faith, I have a ‘belief’ in original sin. This statement is an excellent example of what I mean when I say belief is not the same thing as trust. When I say I believe in a God, πιστεύω εις ένα θεόν, what I really mean is, I trust, in Greek (the language I theologize in) πιστεύω, pistévo. I trust in a God, actually, in one God. When I say, most Christians believe in original sin, of course I do not mean that we trust in it, in sin—except in the sense of, ‘people are sinful; trust me.’

Original sin, whatever you believe, or think, this means—and there are many interpretations—most will definitely agree that it’s the thing about us that gets us into trouble. One of my favorite ways of looking at it is, that human beings, though born good, have a built-in law of failure. It’s me that says human beings are born good, an idea many non-Christian cultures accept. I say it because I can’t see how any creature of God can be considered born bad. Something happens to all of us in that split second when we’re exiting the womb and entering the world.

It’s like we make a choice before we know we can choose. It’s a tiny choice, but it grows as we grow. At some point, we actually become conscious of it, we know we are choosing to do something bad, because it conflicts with our innate goodness, which we agree with. Religious faiths usually don’t hold us responsible for our choices, good or bad, until we reach a certain age, when we are subjected to a rite of passage. The formality of this rite clouds the actual moment when each of us plucks the fruit we were told not to, and eats of it, and we start learning to hide.

It seems silly to me when moderns mock the scriptures and the stories that tell of the world’s and man’s beginnings and our fall. They miss the whole point of the stories. When mined for the gems imbedded in them, yes, you do have to make some effort, you do have to dig deeper, and when you turn them up, you have to stay very wide awake, otherwise they might remain hidden from you in plain sight. This is how it is with understanding what original sin is, how to recognize it, how to evade it, and who to turn to, to be delivered from it. Hence, specifically, the Gospels.

As I see our predicament—returning again for a moment to this idea that people are born good, but are messed with—I want to make another observation. I have noticed that most, if not all, people want what they think is good. Even those historical menaces like Adolf Hitler wanted what he thought was good. Apparently, a lot of people agreed with him on this point, otherwise he would have remained an obscure German wallpaper hanger. As we have seen, though, what Hitler thought was good was maybe good for him and his, but for others it was catastrophe.

Here’s the rub. We are born good, and we want good, but we usually stop at what only feels good, and what only feels good to us. If it also feels good to other people, that’s great, but it really doesn’t matter. If this is another angle of our all-too-human built-in law of failure, I am not surprised. And, of course, wanting the good but settling for what feels good instead of what does good, reveals that we are usually putting ourselves first, not the other guy. The author of Ecclesiastes was right when he wrote, there is nothing new under the sun, and all of us are living proof.

In the first of the Chronicles of Narnia, The Magician’s Nephew, by C. S. Lewis, this struggle between what does good and what only feels good, and which to choose, is distilled in this enigmatic quatrain:

Come in by the gold gates or not at all,

Take of my fruit for others or forbear,

For those who steal or those who climb my wall

Shall find their heart’s desire and find despair.

You will have to read the book because I am unable to explain very much about the meaning of this poem and how it relates to the story, but I can break it down in this way.

Come in by the gold gates. 

There’s a right way and wrong way to go about everything.

Take of my fruit for others. 

It’s better to seek what does others good and pursue it.

For those who steal. 

Because what pleases only oneself.

Those who climb my wall. 

Those who go about things in the wrong way.

Shall find their heart’s desire and find despair. 

Once the wrong way is established, it poisons the soul.

There isn’t a dividing line between those good humans who always choose what does good, and those bad humans who always choose what feels good, but we tend to identify ourselves fully with the former and have no trouble identifying who are the bad guys. Here in America in this presidential election year, this phenomenon is rampant, turning many people into living ikons of Judgment Day—except that it isn’t safe or wise to pre-empt God and take His job away from Him. Yet we act as though we are innocent, and all the blame we heap on ‘the other guy.’

There is a dividing line, but it doesn’t separate the good humans from the bad. It never did and was never meant to. That dividing line cuts everyone of us in half, if not into slivers. But it’s not a fault line like in the continental shelf, which we know is there, and fear, but can do nothing at all about. No, that dividing line is—if we are brave enough to think hard thoughts—only an imaginary line. It’s a line that can be crossed, as we have found out since we do it every day. The trick is to erase the line as much and as often as we can, to eliminate the wrong side, and desire the right.

Born good, born free, yes, even born again. These are just words, some with meaning, but they remain outside our reach as long as we want what only feels good, looks good, maybe is good but only for ourselves. Born good, born free, yes, but why did I include ‘born again’? It is because the hardest self-deception to escape is the one that we use to cover our nakedness, again, in the wrong way. Even being a ‘born again’ Christian has a right way and a wrong way to it. If we’ve examined ourselves carefully, we know what I mean. Let’s come in by the gold gates, or not at all.

Open to me the gates of repentance, O Giver of Life, for my spirit rises early…

Axios!

Axios! Worthy! An acclamation we hear ringing in the Greek Church when someone is publicly honored. It may be a newly baptised and illuminated Christian, who hears these words after being anointed with holy chrism, been tonsured and the first offering of the hair of the head made, having the cross of Christ fastened around the neck. I cannot remember hearing this acclamation at the baptism of an infant, but of an adult, yes, we hear ‘Axios!’ or ‘Axia!’ depending on the gender of the newly illumined.

We hear it again, ‘Axios!’ at the acceptance of the call of Christ, to whatever special service or ministry, from acolyte and reader, to sub-deacon, deacon, monastic, presbyter, and bishop. It is the people who always acclaim, expressing the approval of Christ Himself, who speaks His prophetic utterances among us and upon us through His people.

He is a strange God, this Christ, who calls a man ‘brother’ even before he has accepted His call; who acclaims a man ‘worthy’ even before he has proven himself in the arena.

As conquering heroes we are welcomed by this strange, man-loving God into the arena, where He has already defeated our every fear, every failure, even our very defeat. We enter the arena that He has prepared for us, if we have faith, confident that there no harm can come to us, no loss can afflict us, nor any shame swallow us up in its mockery.

This is no God who can be denied by even an atheist, if he is a thinking man, because He has not contented Himself to remain invisible and high in the remote or mythical heavens. This God has Himself come down into even the atheist's soul, granting life and reason, unasked and unthanked. He rewards even those who do not honor Him, if they obey His commands, which are written indelibly on the soul, making it human.

Axios! Worthy! The sheep following the path to His right without even knowing His name, because they treated His poverty with mercy.

Axios! Worthy! Those who hungered and thirsted for righteousness, though they themselves were weak and lost their battle.

Axios! Worthy! The sons of God who worked for peace, whether or not they knew who is the Prince of Peace, who called them ‘brother’ without their knowledge.

Axios! Worthy! You are called, brother, to a life that you never knew existed, that you never heard tell of, except perhaps in shrouded half-truths passed from one pious mummer to another, stingily grasped and reluctantly bestowed, of whom Christ says, ‘Even what little he has shall be taken away.’ No, but He gives you yourself, worthily into your own hands, with His blessing, to spend in purchasing the field of hidden treasures.

You have only to receive it, to accept His call, to hear the acclamation ‘Axios!’ humbly but gladly, for He has captured your soul and taken you with Him on high, to present you as holy tribute to His Father, the Holy God. He has ransomed your soul from hell before you ever were born, and has restored to you what was lost without your knowing.

Axios! Worthy! The acclamation of the Lamb on His Throne, which He shares with us, seating us next to Himself. Do not refuse to follow, when He calls, for after darkness comes light, unending day after this brief night. He says to you, ‘Receive now the Kingdom that was prepared for you before the foundation of the world. Enter into the joy of your Lord.’

Go where He sends you

Throughout the era of the Communist domination of Eastern Europe, there were many heroes who suffered and died in prison for trying to help Christians behind the Iron Curtain. One of the most well-known of these heroes is Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, a Jewish convert to Christ and a Lutheran minister who started an underground ministry in Romania in 1945. Of the next twenty years, he spent fourteen in prison. Finally ransomed out of Romania in 1965, he established a ministry to smuggle Bibles and practical aid to the families of Romanian martyrs. He died in February of 2001, suffering to the end from the maltreatment he had received at the hands of the Communists. Pastor Wurmbrand himself and those whose stories he relates are shining examples of how faithful Christians can not only survive, but be illuminated through the dreadful sufferings of imprisonment.

A Lutheran Pastor’s Firsthand Account
of Prison Life

by Pastor Richard Wurmbrand

I am a Christian from an Orthodox country — the country of Romania. Having been in prison for fourteen years for my faith, it is now my missionary work to help persecuted Christians in Communist countries. I would like to tell you the stories of several Orthodox Christians with whom I was privileged to come into contact during my time in prison. Their examples and their deeds have been a constant source of encouragement to me throughout the years.

Always Rejoice

The first man was a priest who was put in jail at the age of seventy. His name was Surioanu. When he was brought in with his big white beard and white pate, some officers at the gate of the jail mocked him. One asked, “Why did they bring this old priest here?” And another replied with a jeer, “Probably to take the confessions of everybody.” Those were his exact words.

This priest had a son who had died in a Soviet jail. His daughter was sentenced to twenty years. Two of his sons-in-law were with him in jail — one with him in the same cell. His grandchildren had no food, they were forced to eat from the garbage. His whole family was destroyed. He had lost his church. But this man had such a shining face — there was always a beautiful smile on his lips. He never greeted anyone with “Good morning” or “Good evening,” but instead with the words, “Always rejoice.”

One day we asked him, “Father, how can you say ‘always rejoice’ — you who passed through such a terrible tragedy?”

He said, “Rejoicing is very easy. If we fulfill at least one word from the Bible, it is written, ‘Rejoice with all those who rejoice.’ Now if one rejoices with all those who rejoice, he always has plenty of motivation for rejoicing. I sit in jail, and I rejoice that so many are free. I don’t go to church, but I rejoice with all those who are in church. I can’t take Holy Communion, but I rejoice about all those who take. I can’t read the Bible or any other holy book, but I rejoice with those who do. I can’t see flowers [we never saw a tree or a flower during those years. We were under the earth, in a subterranean prison. We never saw the sun, the moon, stars — many times we forgot that these things existed. We never saw a color, only the gray walls of the cell and our gray uniforms. But we knew that such a world existed, a world with multicolored butterflies and with rainbows], but I can rejoice with those who see the rainbows and who see the multicolored butterflies.”

In prison, the smell was not very good. But the priest said, “Others have the perfume of flowers around them, and girls wearing perfume. And others have picnics and others have their families of children around them. I cannot see my children but others have children. And he who can rejoice with all those who rejoice can always rejoice. I can always be glad.” That is why he had such a beautiful expression on his face.

Heaven’s Smile

Let me interrupt to tell you about another Orthodox Christian. He was not a priest, but a simple farmer. In our country, farmers are almost always illiterate, or nearly so. He had read his Bible well, but other than that he had never read a book. Now he was in the same cell with professors, academicians, and other men of high culture who had been put in jail by the Communists. And this poor farmer tried to bring to Christ a member of the Academy of Science. But in return, he received only mockery.

“Sir, I can’t explain much to you, but I walk with Jesus, I talk with Him, I see Him.”

“Go away. Don’t tell me fairy tales that you see Jesus. How do you see Jesus?”

“Well, I cannot tell you how I see Him. I just see Him. There are many kinds of seeing. In dreams, for instance, you see many things. It’s enough for me to close my eyes. Now I see my son before me, now I see my daughter-in-law, now I see my granddaughter. Everybody can see. There is another sight. I see Jesus.”

“You see Jesus?”

“Yes, I see Jesus.”

“What does He look like? How does He look to you? Does He look restful, angry, bored, annoyed, happy to see you? Does He smile sometimes?”

He said, “You guessed it! He smiles at me.”

“Gentlemen, come hear what this man says to us. He mocks us. He says Jesus smiles at him. Show me, how does He smile?”

That was one of the grandest moments of my life. The farmer became very, very earnest. His face began to shine. In the Church today there are pastors and theologians who can’t believe the whole Bible. They believe half of it, a quarter of it. Somehow they can’t believe the miracles. I can believe the whole of it because I have seen miracles. I have seen transfigurations — not like that of Jesus, but something apart. I have seen faces shining.

A smile appeared on the face of that farmer. I would like to be a painter to be able to paint that smile. There was a streak of sadness in it because of the lost soul of the scientist. But there was so much hope in that smile. And there was so much love and so much compassion, and a yearning that this soul should be saved. The whole beauty of heaven was in the smile on that face. The face was dirty and unwashed, but it held the beautiful smile of heaven.

The professor bowed his head and said, “Sir, you are right. You have seen Jesus. He has smiled at you.”

Pure Orthodoxy

Now, to come back to this priest, Surioanu. He was always such a happy being. When we were taken out for walks, in a yard where there was never a flower, a piece of herb, or grass, he would put his hand on the shoulder of some Christian and ask, “Tell me your story.”

Usually the men would talk about how bad the Communists were. “They’ve beaten me and they’ve tortured me and they’ve done terrible things.”

He would listen attentively; then he would say, “You’ve said plenty about the Communists; now tell me about yourself. When did you confess last?”

“Well, some forty years ago.”

“Let us sit down and forget the Communists and forget the Nazis. For you are also a sinner. And tell me your sins.”

Everybody confessed to him — I confessed to him, too, and I remember that as I confessed to him, and the more I told him sins, the more beautiful and loving became his face. I feared in the beginning that when he heard about such things he would loathe me. But the more I said bad things about myself, the more he sat near to me. And in the end he said, “Son, you really have committed plenty of sins, but I can tell you one thing. Despite all of these sins, God still loves you and forgives you. Remember that He has given His Son to die for you, and try one day a little bit, and another day a little bit, just to improve your character so it should be pleasant to God.”

My experiences with this priest were among the most beautiful encounters of my life. He is no longer on this earth. He was an example of what real Orthodoxy is all about. There exists such Orthodoxy. I don’t see much point in becoming an Orthodox from a Lutheran background or from a Baptist background or from any other background unless one desires that kind of Orthodoxy. His was an excellent Orthodoxy, a pure Orthodoxy. May God help us all to be truly Orthodox, after the example of so many saints who are depicted on the icons, and after the example of so many saints alive today.

This is the mug shot of Pastor Wurmbrand taken in 1947. It clearly shows that he is of the people of Israel, and so I want to share these photos also, as it is an evidence of his martyrdom. As I have said and written many times in this blog, Orthodoxy is the heritage of all followers of Jesus, but there is a man-made kind of Orthodoxy which saves no one, and an Orthodoxy which is of the Spirit of God, where men worship the Father in spirit and truth and are thereby transformed by Him and taken up into the life of the Holy Triad, even while they live on earth. It is the second kind of Orthodoxy that I want, because only that kind is real.

When Pastor Wurmbrand was dying, he confessed to Romanian Orthodox presbyter Fr George Calciu that, in his heart, he loved Orthodoxy, but considered he was not worthy of it, and because of this he did not succeed in becoming fully Orthodox. This was his own opinion of himself, and it held him back, but surely not in the eyes of the Lord whom he served, of whom he witnessed, and for whom he suffered. As I have written elsewhere, true Orthodoxy cannot be contained in its vessel, but continually overfills and overflows it.

Glory to You, O God, glory to You!

So what does one do to enter the Orthodox Church seeking this kind of Orthodoxy?

One may not meet there the kind of Christians we think we are, or hope to be, only religionists and ceremonial spectators. One may not find priests like Fr Surioanu or Fr Calciu, only businessmen dressed in clerical collars or fancy robes. One may be annoyed or scandalized by what seems unorthodox or superfluous, nationalistic or impious, or, as one woman put it to me recently, "It's just wrong!" My response is the only one I have a right to give, because I did it myself.

You just go forward as to an altar call. You enter and lay down your life, trusting in the Lord whom you serve now and whom you want to serve better, trusting that He will always be your Lord, that no one can ever change that or stand between you and Him, and that what the Church is, who it is, will be revealed to your eyes, as you begin to find your place in it, keeping your eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of your faith. The Lord will send to you, or send you to, people like yourself, with whom you can work out your salvation, serving Him together, according to your call. No fear that anyone will take this from you, and never mind those people or things that would have kept you out.

As I said to myself, putting on my tie in front of a mirror on the morning I was going to be received into the Orthodox Church by chrismation, and as Pastor Wurmbrand thought of himself, "How can I do this, I'm not worthy," you too will hear the words spoken to you as you are baptised or chrismated, "Axios! Worthy!"

Now, the new life really begins. Go where He sends you, and always say, "Yes," when He calls.

I think continually of those who were truly great

I think continually of those who were truly great.
Who, from the womb, remembered the soul's history
Through corridors of light where the hours are suns
Endless and singing. Whose lovely ambition
Was that their lips, still touched with fire,
Should tell of the Spirit clothed from head to foot in song.
And who hoarded from the Spring branches
The desires falling across their bodies like blossoms.

What is precious is never to forget
The essential delight of the blood drawn from ageless springs
Breaking through rocks in worlds before our earth.
Never to deny its pleasure in the morning simple light
Nor its grave evening demand for love.
Never to allow gradually the traffic to smother
With noise and fog the flowering of the spirit.

Near the snow, near the sun, in the highest fields
See how these names are fêted by the waving grass
And by the streamers of white cloud
And whispers of wind in the listening sky.
The names of those who in their lives fought for life
Who wore at their hearts the fire's centre.
Born of the sun they travelled a short while towards the sun,
And left the vivid air signed with their honour.

— Stephen Spender (1909-1995)

Metamórphosis

Everything about this day bespeaks transformation.

After attending the Divine Liturgy this morning and receiving into me the very pledge of the théosis promised in this solemn, high feast of Metamórphosis, I returned to earth to shop for my weekly groceries—in keeping with the Fast, soy milk and rice cereal for my breakfasts, fruit, especially grapes, and vegetarian entrées for my lunches at work—these are the comestibles of Lent, but that’s all they are. The real Fast, the great Fast, is kept invisibly within, and tangibly without, ‘Eat anything! anything you like! just not the flesh of the brethren!’

But the feast, as always hidden from the world—God is so shy! He doesn’t want to frighten us into submission—the feast was celebrated by a congregation of two or three dozen people in all, including the priests and cantors, out of a community of eight hundred families. Yes, hidden from the world, but hidden also from ourselves. The grape harvest was in, too, and how fitting, as the holy day of Christ’s transfiguration on Mount Tabor was anciently appointed as the day of blessing of the grape harvest—and so I blessed and ate grapes for my lunch!

Metamórphosis, transformation, or as the normal English translation of the name of this feast day, Transfiguration. These words all have something to do with the change of shape or form, but what we are celebrating in this event is not that kind of change. True, the three disciples, Peter, James and John, saw Jesus standing, talking to the prophet Elijah and the lawgiver Moses, and His face was as bright as the sun, and His garments whiter than any bleach could make them, but their experience was not just visual, it wasn’t something only taken in by their eyes.

They heard a Voice, ‘This is My Son, the Beloved, hear Him!’ issuing from the depths of a bright cloud, words which down the ages every false prophet and religion-monger has taken to himself, claiming to be somehow what Jesus is, but always failing, miserably. No one has ever had these words spoken about him, but Jesus, son of Joseph, Messiah of Israel, who was proclaimed by His resurrection from the dead, the God-Man. The Voice could have spoken these words of Jesus as His body hung on the Cross, shamefully mutilated and despised, but it did not.

Instead, in the dead of night, the darkest night, on a mountain top, a very high mountain, in the presence of only three mere humans, and two human souls suspended in the loving memory of the Father, two souls whom He brought into His active memory to show them His Son, rewarding them for their labors and suffering. We do not know what Jesus was saying to them. We do not know why He chose that day and hour to reveal to the dead and the living the One who was the Life of both, but that is what the Father did, and not without the Holy Spirit.

Here we have the second ikon in the New Testament record of the revelation of the Divine Nature as Holy Triad, the first being at the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan. There too the Voice spoke. There too the Spirit Holy descended and stayed on Him. Now, for a second time, for the second and last time, the Divine Nature reveals Himself, Father speaking His word of command, Son revealing to man the very face of the Father in all glory, Spirit enfolding and brightening not just the Father and Son, but the dead and the living as well, welcoming man into God Himself.

There is another ikon of the Divine Nature as Holy Triad, and it’s the one most people think of when they remember the Holy Trinity. It is the three Angels seated at table, usually with Abram and Sarai in the background, serving them. This ikon is yet a premonition of the Reality that would unfold in the events marking the beginnings and endings of the earthly ministry of the Messiah of Israel, an ikon shadowy as it were, obscure and full of mystery, questions not answers. The ikons of Theophany and Metamorphosis, the Baptism and the Transfiguration, not so.

Not shadowy, obscure, but full of light. Both feasts are associated with the Light of Christ—Theophany is called ‘Tón Photón’ or ‘[Feast] of the Lights’—and here we have the feast in which Christ is revealed as not only the Light but the Source of all Light, the Metamórphosis, the transformation, matter transmuted into energy, which is what it always was, is, and will be. Even human science itself may one day catch up to this Truth, which much of theology has fruitlessly busied itself speculating about rather than experiencing. What Truth are we talking about? No, not what, but Who.

Once again, the Divine Nature breaks in upon our private conversations, both inner and outer, to reveal Himself as not what, but Who, as One, yet Three, as Divine, yet Human, and opens a door of welcome into Himself not as things but as persons, welcoming human beings to become what He created them to be, partakers of the Divine Nature, not cosmic dust, co-workers with Him in the garden universe, co-redeemers with Him of all of nature, which waits with longing and expectation for the revelation of the sons of God, for Metamórphosis, the restoration of Creation.

Now, let’s go and finish blessing the grapes…

Originally posted August 6, 2011

Watching you

‘Every move you make. Every click you take. Every game you play. Every place you stay. They’ll be watching you.’

Strange, that people believe they know everything about you, and that they can use that information to get things out of you, because they have electronic records of some of your activities.

This is another form of modern mythology—people thinking that by their research and reasoning and data gathering they have real knowledge about real things 'out there.'

But no, it isn't so. Even the conclusions of the best scientists are still mythology, no better than that of the ancients who used tales of gods and heroes to explain the universe.

We have only upgraded our tools and refined our systems, but everything we think we know is nothing more than the human mind taking in as much as it can and trying to make sense out of it.

It is all still just mythology—symbols pointing to realities that we cannot really know, only describe as best we can.

Back to what this company does, or what any data gathering machine does, they are only gathering data on the observable universe, just on a human scale.

Nothing they think they know about us can curtail our freedom as God-created and Christ-redeemed eternal beings. They can take nothing away with them that we don't give them.

As Christ tells us moment by moment, 'Do not fear, it is I,' to emphasize and reinforce in us the truth (not a mere myth) that He is with us, just as He promises, until the end of the age.

And furthermore that only One knows everything about us, and everything about them who think they know everything about us, and it is He, and He alone.

Glory to God, yes, to the Being whose greatness is only magnified the deeper we probe His creation, for wherever we turn, He is there.

This is why He tells us, wasting no words, 'In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world' (John 16:33).

Firm but gentle

It  was the early morning work day commute on a busy street, drivers racing to be first in line at the on-ramp. The twilight was misty and cold. On the right-hand sidewalk a little gaggle of poor day laborers and homeless men were huddled trying to feel warm in each other’s smoky presence, hands wrapped around paper cups of cheap coffee from the Seven-Eleven on the left-hand side of the street.

Suddenly in the meridian from behind a car paused in the turning lane, another poor man appeared, coffee cup in hand, timidly assessing his chances of scooting across the two car-filled lanes, one of which I was in. The fellow was moving slowly too, not because he was timid, but I got the impression he probably couldn’t move any faster. The look on his face was one of sheepishness mixed with shame, and just a little hope, as he waited for his chance to make the crossing there in the middle of a block.

The cars ahead of me just sped up as they passed him, one honking callously, as if hurrying past a leper. As I came up to him, I slowed down, intending to stop, with no one behind me. The man looked perplexed, and motioned for me to keep driving. This was a case of a human at risk, regardless of right and wrong, and the law does say, after all, that pedestrians have the right of way, and not just at official cross walks.

I came to a full stop about twelve feet away from him, looked him in the eye, pointed at him briskly, and then turned the direction of my left hand and jerkily pointed right towards the sidewalk. He understood, and obediently followed my direction, firm but gentle. We smiled at each other, and he crossed, hobbling. I was right. There was something wrong with his powers of locomotion.

The poor you will always have with you; you will not always have Me.
This was a case of ‘the poor you will always have with you.’ For the man who has his eye on Jesus, to follow Him in doing what he sees Him doing, the plan of action is always clear: Whatsoever you do to the least of My brothers, that you do unto Me.

There are many kinds of people in the world, and many kinds of Christians. Some are unbelievers, some are believers, and some are followers. In these three categories there are people who identify themselves as Christians, and those who don’t. We can’t classify ourselves as to which category we belong any more than we can classify ourselves as white or colored, male or female. We just do what we do because we are who we are. God knows us better than we know ourselves, and we can’t fool Him by pious acts or humanistic posing. He knows our hearts. He knows who is with Him and who is against Him.

Though we didn’t have a choice whether or not to be born, we do have a choice whether or not to be born again. We may have started out like one of those in the crowd of five thousand that were drawn to hear Jesus speak, and we may even have received not only His words but also been fed by Him. We may be like one of those in that crowd, some of whom were unbelievers and others believers, but which group we really belonged to was finally revealed at the steps of Pilate's office, where we shouted either ‘Jesus’ or ‘Barabbas’ when asked which criminal to set free, or even ‘Crucify him!’

As long as we haven’t chosen to be born again, born from above, we remain part of the vast ochlos, Greek for ‘crowd,’ whose true beliefs and priorities are hidden from others and even from ourselves. We may call ourselves Christians or maybe we don’t, but God doesn’t recognize names, He gives them.

Responding to the call of Christ removes us for all time from the ochlos and places us among the Twelve. Our belief, our poor faith and our initial anxiety, are suddenly replaced with the certainty of recognition, knowing for sure that ‘it is me’ He is pointing to so firmly, that ‘it is me’ He is looking at so hard eye to eye, and that ‘it is me’ He is directing to cross to the other side, to safety, along the secure bridge of a gentle, shared smile.

And we find that just as He has treated us, with firm direction but gentle sympathy for our weaknesses, and unmixed good will, we are ourselves able to treat others in the very same way, replicating in the daily frailty of our human natures, even by little things, the abundant life He has given us to share with others.

‘…like a tree that is planted, deep-rooted, by streams of water, yielding its fruit in season, its leaves never fading.’

The mystery of apostasy

The mystery of apostasy. This one just won’t let me sleep. I wake up in the dead of night, no, in the pre-dawn darkness, visual shreds of an interrupted dream settling on my waking mind. Remnants of a memory of having seen and spoken to him, a brother who had turned unexpectedly from sheep to wolf, following me as a shadow as I step into a line of brethren queued up to venerate the holy cross, I, stripped to the waist and feeling my half-nakedness with an undisguised satisfaction. The place of veneration, a cold stone sanctuary in a darkness illuminated by unseen, flickering torches, I follow meekly behind anonymous others, contemplating the wounds I am about to venerate. His hands, His feet, and yes, also, His thorn-pierced brow. Do I dare approach Him that closely and lay my lips on His head, who is the Head of my life? I feel afraid for a moment, as I realize, this is no mere ikon of the Sacrifice, but the Divine Presence Himself hanging on the beam and stake. I suddenly awake.

I call it the mystery of apostasy, not mystery in the sense of the holy mysteries, but in the sense of something I find it difficult to understand, or maybe there is no difference. The holy mystery in which the Unseen God becomes visible in our co-activity with Him, conveying Himself to us, and us to Himself, bringing heaven to earth and earth to heaven, who can understand this? And who can understand how a sheep turns into a wolf, or a wolf into a sheep, yet the procession in two directions goes on in us and all around us without our knowledge and outside our power. It is really the mystery of free will, which puts the foolishness of God on perfect display before the universe He created, to the joy and rapture of angels and saints, and to the contempt and mockery of the devils and satan.

There is a man I know, a Christian brother, who has somehow shadowed me without either of us knowing, as I have followed the Lord who saved me, though imperfectly. I remember him years ago passing through the same places, the same stages on the journey to the abode of Truth, that is, Holy Church. I remember him in the way station of St Mark, a ‘high church’ Anglican parish where I erected an altar of devotion and thanks for the gift of sons, and where I baptised them of my own body, and one or two godsons of my generation. To the Greeks I went and became a Greek, while he, as I later found out, entered the Kingdom through the Antiochian door. I met him again when I visited the parish that is now my home. There he was, physically older, robust, standing tall with a fierce quietude in the Divine Liturgy, leaning on his highland staff, clad in a kilt and sturdy, rustic footwear, among docile, beautiful Syrians with their gentle eyes, bright as gazelles.

I spoke to him a few times in fellowship after services. I was curious, and bold enough, to ask him about his costume. He astonished me by his single-minded devotion to the Celtic ethos. He assured me that he never wore anything but kilts, at home, at work, in church, and that he owned seven of them, of various quality. I wondered at the patience of his lovely, meek wife, who usually stood and sang with the choir, while he manned his post on the left of the center aisle at the pew’s end, strong and silent, looking like a combatant from Braveheart at rest before the next battle. Yes, that’s what he looked like, a warrior waiting for the moment to spring an ambush, and I was strangely afraid of him. Seeing him always made me think of St Patrick, not of the saint, but of the guards sent by the heathen king to prevent him from approaching to convert him and his people. But this was a Christian brother, and I silenced my fear and refrained from judgment. Orthodoxy is the Church, and the Church is a pan-human reality. It accepts all.

Lately I noticed that he was absent from services, and that I hadn’t seen him or his wife for almost as long as I had been worshipping at the church of St George, which is about two years. I did not ask anyone about them. I just assumed they had moved, and were going to another church. This happens. There have been some spiritual upheavals and distress in some of the Orthodox churches in our town the last few years, resulting in some migration. I too found myself as a religious refugee from a parish that has been, until quite recently, under ‘alien occupation.’ I know others who also have left the parish I now belong to, because they somehow felt excluded. This too is a mystery, because welcome has met me there. Without being able to express it in words, I know that God will use this feeling of being ‘squeezed out’ of one place, to get us moving along the path He wants us to travel. He doesn’t like us to ‘spin our wheels’ and if He must shake the earth to get us moving again, He will. But He never pushes us, or pulls us, out of the path of His Son. He keeps us always on the road to Calvary. That is, if we let Him.

Yesterday I found this brother again in an unexpected way. I found him writing wild words where others could read them, for whatever reason I don’t know. Perhaps as an apologia. I was shocked and very sorry to read what I never thought anyone in Christ would express.

‘When the Priest says “Christ is in our midst...” in the Liturgy he's lying. Christ isn't in a “cultural/ traditional church,” He's in a Church of Faith and gathering of Saints. The Liturgy could be True! But only if the People totally believe it! The Orthodox Church has failed, the Orthodox Faith has not! Get rid of those Vandalizing Icons, speak only English, and accept all, then and only then will you be Orthodox! Am I speaking for God? the answer, Yes, I am! And I will not apologize for right! God Bless!’

I have read and heard such things before, but not from Orthodox brethren, only from sectarians. Looking at more of his writings, I could see that he is just hurt, hurt by a church that he feels excludes him because of his idiosyncrasies. His apostasy is no different from any other. All are caused by the unwillingness to follow Christ to the cross, and whether we express this unwillingness as he does or not, whether our apostasy is visible to others or not, whether or not we try to justify it, we cannot hide from Christ in the foliage of our excuses.

The mystery of apostasy. It’s not about who stays attached to Holy Church and goes to heaven, or about who falls away and goes to hell. It’s not even about ‘whoever confesses Me before men’ or ‘whoever denies Me,’ because Christ Himself does not speak as a judge in these sayings, but as a prophet. Unseen He ransoms souls from Hades by the bright lightning flash of His divinity, putting to shame all our vainglory and self-justification, putting to death our passions, revealing to the trapped their prison walls so He may ask them for permission to demolish them. We cannot judge our brethren, no, not even ourselves, we can only witness, and wait. Yes, prayer, the dance of our flesh on the threshing-floor of time, before the Holy Ark and the mercy-seat over which hovers the Spirit who is King of kings of kings, Holy God, Mighty, and Deathless, yes, prayer, turning around to face Him forever whom we denied moment by moment because of our weakness, prayer, the asking which He must answer, dissolves all mysteries that flow not towards His holy throne, the life-giving Cross, and breaks all bonds, setting the captives free.

O Lord, save Your people, and bless Your inheritance!

And you shall find rest

People will probably think I’m off my rocker when I tell them that I support the new laws passed in Russia that severely restrict the activities of Christian churches and missionary outreaches in Russia. Yes, I live in America, and here, in spite of a persistent anti-Christian bias in the media, in government, and in intellectual circles, we could pass no such laws. We have freedom of religion. Most ‘progressive’ people here agree with the proposition that America is not a Christian nation. Well, I don’t know about that. I would rather say, it’s not a nation whose identity is defined by a single expression of Christianity. Though the Episcopal Church has held a sort of tacit ‘Church of the United States’ status, being the denomination most closely identified with the American revolution (George Washington, among others, belonged to it), the nation as a whole can only be called ‘Christian’ because despite denominational divides, most people who believe in God here also believe in Jesus Christ. Bingo! a Christian nation!

Russia, on the other hand, is not in this position at all—seriously! We have no concept of what it is like to live in a country with a state church like England, Denmark, Greece, or… Russia. My family is Greek Orthodox. Our experience is that of living in an Orthodox village surrounded by indifferent neighbors, people whose lives are either molded by some other philosophy or religion, or by nothing at all, except self-indulgence. Three of my sons have visited or lived in Orthodox countries—Greece, Russia. The son who visited and for a short time lived in Russia returned a changed man. He had not realized until then, growing up in our Orthodox village in pluralistic America, what a whole country would look like that was molded by the same faith, where when someone told you they were going to church, that only meant one thing—the Divine Liturgy. American evangelicals and evangelists that are sent to Russia don’t quite get it. They think they want to bring Russia to Jesus Christ. Some of them get evangelized by Russia!

When the Soviet Union was beginning to lose its hold on the Russian and other peoples, Christianity was gradually allowed to be ‘out’ again, to be practiced openly. As of 2012, the Church in Russia was about eighty-seven percent Orthodox, and about thirteen percent Other (our word for it is Heterodox, which means the same thing). Of that thirteen percent, eight percent are Christians but unchurched, and five percent are split among Old Believers, Protestants, and Roman Catholics, in that order. Of the whole Russian population, however, only forty-seven percent claim to be any type of Christian at all. These statistics are somewhat misleading, because of the history of the country, where for seventy years being or admitting to being a Christian was punishable in various ways. Russian statistics should be read as ‘at least that much’ in contrast to American statistics which should be read ‘at most that much.’

The historical and cultural legacy of Russia is, undeniably, Orthodox Christianity. When, after the thaw in religious curtailment, Protestants were flooding in, bringing bibles, the Russian Orthodox Church was supportive. Why? Because bibles were being printed and distributed. Eventually, the Russian Church began to resent and finally repel the evangelicals. Why? Because they were no longer satisfied to distribute the bible to Orthodox believers, they began to evangelize them, as if that were possible, or necessary. In other words, they placed themselves and their doctrinal teachings in conflict with the Orthodox faith and order in the country. The Orthodox follow the scriptural teaching of Paul the Apostle, who says, ‘My ambition has always been to preach the Good News where the name of Christ has never been heard, rather than where a church has already been started by someone else’ (Romans 15:20).

The bible-thumpers apparently take this text lightly, for they have no scruple about what they are doing. The Russian Orthodox Church is not actually a ‘state church’ as the new Russian constitution also stipulates a separation of Church and State. Due to historical circumstances, this is hard to carry out, because Orthodoxy has left its symbols in Russian culture at all levels. The new laws that are being enacted are without doubt intended to prevent further infiltration of historic Russian Christianity by disruptive and unhealthy aspects inherent in evangelicalism, particularly the American brand, where boys of twenty-two years are routinely set up as pastors in congregations, and acceptance of marijuana use, desecration of the human body, and other symptoms of degeneracy are common. What the new laws are attempting to do is prevent ignorance from corrupting the wisdom of ancient Christianity.

Other countries have similar laws. I am told that public evangelism is illegal in Greece. Not even the Greek Orthodox Church can do evangelism on the streets. Of course, there, it’s not needed or wanted. In Greece, everyone is Orthodox except a handful of non-comformists, and traditional ethnic minorities like Italians or Turks. If you’re a Greek, you’re either pious and sometimes learned, or you’re usually indifferent yet patriotically attached to the Church. If an evangelical missionary is looking to bring the Greek people to Christ, he might be met with a response from either type of Greek that says as much as, ‘What do you mean, bring the Greek people to Christ? He’s here with us, and has been here all this time!’ Again, this is something I don’t expect evangelicals to understand.

Roman Catholics, on the other hand, understand this concept quite well, yet even they sometimes launch a crusade into Orthodox territory in order to ‘heal the schism’ between East and West. Thankfully, this is mostly a thing of the past, except in countries which straddle the East-West divide, such as Ukraine, Slovakia, the former Yugoslavia, and some areas in the Near East.

To close, I’m not entirely sure that the ancient way of ‘one nation, one faith’ which began in ancient Egypt, was institutionalized in the Christian Roman and Byzantine Empires and their successor states, right up to the Protestant Reformation, isn’t perhaps the best way. Again, I think this kind of development is part of the evolutionary processes that create and mold human societies and nations. What we have going for us in America seemed very good on paper to our founding fathers and we are still engaged in trying it out, this separation of Church and State. Will it end up being one of the principles that ensures the survival of the American nation, or will our descendants look back at us with amazement, ‘How in the world did they think that the body politic could survive when it was parsed out and the pieces put ahead of the whole? Thank God we took the prophet’s advice and saved America!’

‘Put yourself on the ways of long ago, inquire about the ancient paths: which was the good way? Take it then, and you shall find rest’ (Jeremiah 6:16 Jerusalem Bible).

Church and State in America

‘Government as a human act of governing oneself and one’s responsibilities and one’s dependents is very different from the modern institution of the State.’ — Alana Roberts

Just as the Church does not exist primarily within the four walls of a worship building or only during an hour or two on the weekend, neither does the Commonwealth exist within the four sides of a voting booth or only during ten minutes or so every two to four years. The Church exists primarily and fundamentally in the Christian family on a twenty-four (hours) seven (days a week) basis. If the Church is not there, then whatever goes on within the weekly religious assemblies is pious placebo at best and holy hogwash at worst. The Commonwealth exists primarily and fundamentally in the family on a twenty-four seven basis, not to exactly repeat myself. If the Commonwealth is not there, then whatever happens during any election is public procrastination at best and ignorant irresponsibility at worst. Unfortunately, there is not much going on between these two extremes, and they’re not very far from each other.

Church and State in America, but let’s talk in reverse order—the State.

Notice, I used the uncommon term (uncommon in America) Commonwealth. This I did not do to imply any connexion with the British Commonwealth (even though I believe we should be part of it). I use the word to denote what the meaning of ‘State’ should be in America—we were designed to be a commonwealth, another name for a republic—‘people’s thing’ in Latin—and one that operates as a democratic—‘people’s power’ in Greek—monarchy. Yes, I said ‘monarchy,’ for that is in fact what our Constitution makes us. Though we call our popularly elected king a president, we are in fact a monarchy, just like the elective monarchy of the sixteenth century Polish Commonwealth (Rzeczpospolita, again, ‘common thing’ in Polish). The thing we don’t have, and which most other monarchies do, is a prime minister. We don’t need one.

Notice, when I said the Commonwealth exists primarily and fundamentally in the family, I didn’t say ‘Christian family’ because we are a pluralistic society. E pluribus unum—‘out of many, one’ in Latin—meaning not just out of many nationalities and races, but also many religions. Does that, then, mean that we are not a ‘Christian’ country? No, it does not. We are a Christian (later, Judaeo-Christian) country because that is the cultural complex our commonwealth is built upon, and in fact, employing the ‘liberty of the gospel,’ we have established freedom for every member of our commonwealth to believe or not to believe in God or gods or a religion, as each sees fit. Quite early, Jews were welcomed as equal citizens, then the believers in every other religion, as well as the irreligious and the atheist, were accepted without demur. Even religious, not political, Islam is welcome here.

But the Commonwealth, the Republic, the democratic Monarchy that was established by the country’s founders for themselves and their descendants, was established as the best form of government for a people that was both industrious and committed to living in freedom and passing it on to their progeny. The Constitution does not work when applied to a people not yet ready for it (as in the case of savages) or to a people who have abandoned reason, order, and morality (as in the case of moderns). We have seen, over at least the past five or six presidential elections, the truths of this proposition, that only an enlightened and moral populace can maintain the Commonwealth as it was originally formulated. What we are seeing this year and into the future if we don’t revive our commitment first to the family—and second, to the education of the young—is a collapse of the Commonwealth.

Commitment to the family means taking responsibility for ourselves and our children, not waiting for government institutions to take care of us. The State—not the Commonwealth, which is actually its opposite, though I will use ‘the State’ to refer to it formally—has been encroaching on the family, first disarming it, taking away its right of self-determination, rendering it helpless, and then insinuating itself into a place it was never intended to have—the role of husband and father. The nearly universal abdication, in the face of militant feminism, of the role of husband and father in the family is responsible for the decline of reason, order, and morality in America at large. I think there is enough evidence of this, if one has the wits to take a look. An indolence, that is, a laziness, has taken hold of the American male, who compensates for his moral defeat by pursuing the almighty dollar more and more.

To conclude, with regard to the State, or Commonwealth, in America, not just the men, but the women of America have to take their lives and responsibilities seriously. The pursuit of careers and working very, very hard to achieve financial and social success has to be moved to the back burner of daily life. The begetting, raising, and education of the next generation must begin in earnest. To be with one’s children, to create ‘family’ out of a hodgepodge of multi-generational and sometimes multi-paternal roommates, to develop in ourselves a sense of priorities and ordering our lives by reason and, yes, even by faith, teaching and practicing democracy within the homestead, extending it to the neighborhood, and then beyond to wider and wider social constructs, to the unthroned, uncrowned monarchy that is these United States, will restore meaning to elections, and render harmless the demagogues.

Now, to return finally to the ‘Church’ part of this discussion of Church and State in America, I have to first admit that I am speaking to those of my own faith community, Orthodox Christianity, because that is the one whose economy—‘laws of the house’ in Greek—I know best, through belief and practice. If anything I say can be applied by other Christians, or even by those of other faiths, so much the better. Perhaps what I write will be the first invitation to explore what Holy Orthodoxy really is, which is not just what people see ‘in church’—the ikons, the ceremonies, the singing—but what is supposed to be going on in the ‘real’ Church, that is, the family. I will be the first to admit that my own life as an Orthodox husband and father was not flawless, that in large part, I failed, but that I tried at all, even that I tried with fervor, does not disqualify me from passing on what I know about it.

The Church resides primarily in the family. Each family is a micro-monarchy. A church wedding recognizes that a marriage has begun. In the ceremonial no vows are taken because the bond is implied permanent, and the Church only blesses what has already started, by literally crowning and declaring the wedded couple the king and the queen of their family. After the ceremony, building that kingdom begins, a twenty-four seven occupation, something we do, acknowledging our partnership with God. The father and husband reigns, ideally and scripturally, ruling by the law of love, the mother and homemaker, likewise, reigns as co-ruler by the same law. The man works tirelessly to build the outer world, to provide and protect. The woman works tirelessly to build the inner world, to nurture and teach. Together with their children, they aspire to live the life of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.

No, this is not a pious, idealized, and impossible goal to set before a family. We already know and accept the fact that we will have an uphill climb, that success is going to come slowly and in some areas maybe never, but we know that ‘God is with us,’ not in any triumphalist religious delusion, but in His mercy and love, two attributes of God in Christ that we can readily imitate, if we choose. Brothers, take up the crown which Christ God has crowned you with, ahead of time, before the Day of Judgment, even before your own death. Take up the crown, yes, even when it is a crown of thorns, and be Christ King in your family, living for them, and with them, so that you may live in them, passing on the Divine Image that you reflect. Sisters, take up the crown, the same crown as your husband, and let it be a circlet around those whom God has given you, living for them, and with them, so that you may live in them.

We see the Orthodox family also being eroded by the same fierce, merciless forces that have dissolved even the idea of family, of fatherhood, motherhood, and brotherhood that are the foundation of Church and State in America. Whom do we worship, to whom do we pray, whose teachings are on our lips and in our ears for eternal remembrance and practice? Whom do we love, whom do we respect, in each other and in our children? Who is it we are raising? Are we raising Christian men and women, good citizens of a God-protected and wisdom-instructed Commonwealth? The true America is not a country only, but an idea, one which reasonable people throughout the whole world seek and wish to emulate. The America we now see is a shadow, a wraith of her true greatness and glory which was gifted her by the Almighty, He who made her His people because they made Him their God.

Church and State in America. This is not the end, brethren, but the beginning. The sun is about to rise. It is moving slowly, soon to be seen at the horizon. The winter is almost past, soon it will be spring, a springtime for this nation, and for all the nations. Christ is in our midst. He is and ever shall be. Let us remember our first love, that with those who endured all calamities and survived among the seven churches of Asia in John’s prophecy, we will be crowned kings and queens, a holy nation, a priesthood serving Him Who is, was, and is to come, the Almighty.

Religious differences

Most of us, whether Christian or Jew, when confronted with the question of what it is that divides the two God-believing religious communities, would probably say that it is the acceptance or the rejection of the claim that Jesus of Nazareth was or is the Christ, or the Messiah, of Israel. It is Jesus’ famous question, ‘Who do men say that I am?’ that we read in the gospels.

Although this point of difference is quite true, and quite meaningful, I think that what divides Christianity and Judaism is something deeper and more fundamental, something on which the messiahship of Jesus itself stands or falls. It is the question of the Law, to the Hebrews, Torah, something that Saul of Tarsus, as Paul the apostle, examines extensively.

Why do I think this? Because as I survey the religious landscape, I see a spectrum of belief systems ranging from ultra-Orthodox Judaism on the one hand to ultra-Orthodox Christianity on the other, and what fills the space between the two is a gradation of rejection/acceptance of Jesus, apostate to gifted ancient rabbi, human to semi-divine messiah, and man-God to God-man.

But that spectrum is not what influences the daily lives and mindset of the believers in these two branches of monotheism. Rather, it is their attitudes toward the Law, that is, the biblical commandments, positive and negative, that are found almost exclusively in the Jewish Tanakh (Bible) and the Christian Old Testament of the Bible, are they absolutely binding, or what are they?

Literally, are they absolutely binding, words falling directly from God’s lips to our ears, telling us without equivocation what it is that God wants us to do or not to do, or are they something else? the ‘something else’ itself comprising a broad spectrum from belief in the Law as an evolution of human recognition of divine morality, to a body of tribal rules that modernism can safely ignore.

What brought this to mind was reading in the morning news of a modern-Orthodox Jewish woman who finally decided to ‘come out’ as a homosexual in the face of a prominent rabbi’s drawing a line between Judaism and sexual perversion in predominantly gay-friendly Israel, a country which accepts gays in secular, social relationships from which religious biases are, by law, excluded.

In drawing the line, the rabbi also placed Jews who accept gays as ‘normal’ as well as Reform Jews (a denomination) on the ‘wrong’ side of the line, calling them ‘Christians.’ Obviously, to this rabbi, the significant difference between Judaism and Christianity was not so much ‘who is Jesus of Nazareth?’ but rather, ‘what is the Torah?’—perhaps he would accept Jesus if he were Torah-observant.

This reminded me of a talk I recently had with a fellow Orthodox Christian, who told me that his younger brother (both he and his brother raised as Reform Jews by a father who now identifies as Unitarian) was about to marry his pregnant partner and commit their lives to a neo-Galatian, messianic Jewish sect called ‘The Twelve Tribes’ or ‘The Commonwealth of Israel.’ This sect believes,

that all denominations are fallen and therefore refuses to align itself with any denomination or movement; does not identify itself as Christian, believing that Christianity is the Whore of Babylon; that in order for the messiah to return, the Church needs to be restored to its original form seen in Acts; that the Sabbath and Mosaic law (including dietary laws, and Jewish feasts) must be observed.

Where does Jesus of Nazareth fit into the ‘theology’ of this sect? Naturally and theoretically, his role is that of human messiah, not the God-man of Orthodox Christianity, but the man-God (the ‘chip off the old block’ semi-divine ‘christed’ man of Arian and Jehovah’s Witness teaching), a necessary adjunct to their ‘salvation by adherence to the Law’ belief system, the ancient Galatian heresy.

Yes, the rejection or acceptance of Jesus of Nazareth does formally erect a broad divide between Judaism and Christianity, but it seems to me that a great divide between, not the formal faith communities but, their human participants is erected by what we believe is the proper function of the Law, whatever we conceive that Law to be—divine, human, or a mixture of both.

This is not an easy knot to untangle, but we are all untangling it, or tangling it up even more, during the course of our earthly lives. As a Jew, I know what the Torah says, and as a Christian, I have heard the gospel and read the writings of the apostles, especially Paul. For me, accepting Jesus of Nazareth as resurrected from the dead and vanquisher of death puts the Law in perspective.

‘Love is the Law, Love is not ruled by laws,’ is a sentiment that can be heard in a contemporary song, and is always beckoning to us throughout our lives, day by day either building our heavenly mansion or demolishing it, as we slowly migrate to the Day of Judgment when we hear, not if, what, or who we believed in, but ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to Me.’

Mary of Nazareth

Everyone has heard of and perhaps even seen the film Jesus of Nazareth, by Franco Zeffirelli. First seen in the United States as a television broadcast on Easter Sunday, April 3, 1977, it has been a standard ‘religious’ movie ever since, though its extraordinary length, over 6 hours, makes it difficult to watch in one sitting. It is still my favorite movie about Jesus, although I have reservations here and there. One of them—and I still have a hard time understanding why they did this—is in the scene in which Christ bequeaths the keys of the Kingdom to the apostles, saying “and upon this rock I will build what I must call my church.” Since when is Christ in a position where He ‘must’ do anything? It sounds like a sheepish capitulation to some kind of political correctness, and who, if not Jesus, was the ultimate in political in-correctness? But that’s alright. Other scenes amply make up for it, especially the scene where Christ tells the parable of the prodigal son, and Peter standing in the doorway of Matthew the tax collector’s house but refusing to go in “to his blood sucking enemy” is self-consciously caught in the web of divine logic, realising that he is the older, dutiful son, that Matthew is the prodigal, and that Christ is the all-loving and all-forgiving father. The words of his Master, and His direct eye to eye look, draw Peter completely out of himself and directly to the Lord, of whom he asks forgiveness with tears in his eyes, and adds, “I’m just a stupid man.” At that moment, watching the scene my entire being dissolves as I realise, with Peter, that Christ is the Pantokrator, and I am less than nothing, and yet He loves me. Who says movies can’t be ikons?


Today is the first day of the Theotokos Fast, and it’s making me think more and more about Mary of Nazareth, the mother of Jesus, whom all generations have called blessed, even to the point of calling her the Mother of God, some going even further and calling her the All-holy, as Anthimos of Chios has, who is quoted as saying, “Our Panagia is the salvation of the whole world, she is the only mother for all Christians. She has much love for the human race, especially for sinners. Let us all run to the Panagia in every circumstance to ask her, to have her as our aid.” The title ‘Panagía’ means, all-holy.

How and why does he call her ‘all-holy’? Surely he doesn’t mean that she is a goddess. Neither did Mary die on the cross for our salvation. She is not the God-woman as Jesus is the God-man. She is still just a human being. Everything that Mary is and has is received from her Divine Son, yet she gave Him something too—her flesh—so that He could become man and be the Life of the world. There is no doubt that their lives interpenetrate in a way that no one else’s does, but Mary is simply not the mediator between man and God, not even between man and her Son, who is God.

For there is only one God, and there is only one mediator between God and mankind, himself a man, Jesus Christ, who sacrificed Himself as a ransom for them all.
1 Timothy 2:5 Jerusalem Bible
Mary of Nazareth, a Jewish girl, daughter of Joachim and Anna, a virgin of Israel living at home with her parents, but already betrothed to a man named Joseph.

New Testament apocrypha, like the Protevangelion of James, written long after the events they try to describe, have painted a very strange tale around this young woman. So strange, that the Church, though accepting some of the tale, has disposed of the rest, and even recommends that these apocrypha not be read by the average Christian. Why? We are told that everything of value that is in these ancient writings has been extracted by the Church and for the Church, so we don’t need to bother ourselves. The fact that even what the Church does accept does not square with the history or the customs of the Jewish people in the time of the 2nd Temple does not seem to matter. The hymns and ikons of the Church are simply true, because they tell the story so well.
My favorite painting of the event in salvation history called evangelismós in Greek, and ‘the annunciation’ in English, is very realistic. I know that it isn’t an ikon and I don’t pretend that it is. Nevertheless it speaks to me, and very profoundly, of the human reality of the Theotokos, Mary of Nazareth, a Jewish girl in the working class, following the commandments as befits a woman of Israel, devout, praying, believing what her parents taught her and what she sang and heard sung by the other women, conversant with the psalms as with her own heart, so much so that without premeditation she could compose and sing a new psalm after hearing her kinswoman Elizabeth greet her, “Of all women you are the most blessed…”

It is night. She is awakened and is sitting pensively on her bed, a blanket hanging between her sleeping area and the rest of the house hiding her from view. The rest of the house is in darkness, but not where she is sitting. A strange light is burning before her, emitting words. We would expect that when the bodiless power appeared, she would have retreated in fear, as she does in the film Jesus of Nazareth. But no, she sits quietly, listening. The angel (for now we know what it was, and even though we cannot see it, she can) has to tell her “Do not be afraid,” but only after he has called her ‘highly favored’ and said, “The Lord is with you.”

In what way is she favored? She trembles. How is the Lord with her? What does He want of her? When he reveals it, she says ‘yes’ to God, even though it will put her in the worst position imaginable. She is a virgin. She has never known a man. She is now pregnant. How to tell father and mother, how to tell her betrothed Joseph. What will people think?
“A virgin will bring forth a child, who will be called Immanuel, God among us…” Was she comforted by this prophecy?

In the Bible, there is only one mention of an angel coming to speak to Mary, and it is this one. But there is also another tradition that the same angel came and spoke to her at least once more (some say more than once more). The angel, whose name we have come to know as Gabriel, visited Mary when she was back in Jerusalem in her old age, still living with John, Christ’s beloved disciple, into whose care He gave His mother. The angel spoke good news to her again. It would not be good news in the ears of some, but it was to her. In just a few more days, her Divine Son would come and take her home to be with Him forever.

You would think that the evangelist John, with whom Mary lived for the remainder of her life, would have told us about her life after Christ’s ascension, that he would have written and told us about, not only the angel’s first bringing of the good news, but also the second, yet he is silent. How much he knew about her, how much he knew from her about Jesus! Yet he limits his writing of the good news to the person and words of his Lord and Master, even admitting that he was ‘barely scratching the surface,’ and that “if all were written down, the world itself, I suppose, would not hold all the books that would have to be written” (John 21:25). And in Christ, the same is true of Mary of Nazareth, and of every one of us who follow Him with her. The whole world could not hold all the books that could be written, but it doesn’t have to. Our lives are hidden with Christ in God, but when He who is our life is revealed…

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.Colossians 3:1-4 NIV

Ει ουν συνηγερθητε τω Χριστω τα ανω ζητειτε ου ο Χριστος εστιν εν δεξια του Θεου καθημενος, τα ανω φρονειτε μη τα επι της γης, απεθανετε γαρ και η ζωη υμων κεκρυπται συν τω Χριστω εν τω Θεω, οταν ο Χριστος φανερωθη η ζωη ημων τοτε και υμεις συν αυτω φανερωθησεσθε εν δοξη.

We are still the early humans

‘We are still the early Christians,’ is a saying of Christian apologist and author C. S. Lewis which I hold by, which gives me hope and patience with the Church when she seems to resist what I see as necessary change. I propose an adaptation of this saying which has wider implications, ‘We are still the early humans,’ because whatever or whoever our biological antecedents were in the immense chain of evolution, and regardless of what science today declares homo sapiens from studying ancient remains, the human family as we now know it is probably not much older than twelve thousand years, perhaps a good deal younger, and was ‘created’ in an event that is mythically described in the first chapters of Genesis, ‘Let us make man in Our own image, in the likeness of Ourselves.’

How the physical universe from cosmic down to terrestrial scale came to be is inadequately explained by the best guesses of science just as much as it is obscured by the traditional tales of humanity, yet the former, products of—you guessed it—evolution, often contain more practical truth than the latter, which are the product of, at best, four or five generations out of—at least four hundred of thinking beings. Yes, thinking beings—that’s what we are, despite the slanders of anti-humanistic critics. Thinking beings are what the Bible is describing when we read about God making man ‘in Our own image.’ Why is it that we have no human history, not even oral lore, reaching back to, say, the last great Ice Age? Could it be because those humanoids that fought the glaciers just to remain alive were not yet humans?

Out of the darkness of pre-human existence, an event horizon is seen, appearing as if ‘ready made,’ mirroring an event horizon we are much more familiar with from everyday life—the birth of a child. Before the child is born, without the aid of modern instruments, we can’t see it, we don’t know what it is, and then—pop!—a baby is born, a being which we immediately recognize as one of us, as human, and if we have ever stopped to think about it, that newborn infant is every much a human in every way as a mature adult, except that it lacks experience, the data which is added to the being that is the human. We see a similar thing happening in the case of human civilizations, such as that of Egypt. The illustrious and majestic remains of the earliest dynasties seem to appear ready made from nowhere.

Can you see where I am going with this? We are the early humans because as far back as you find evidences of human civilization—Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, Egypt, Yucatan, China—these beginnings are relatively recent. Their spontaneous appearance has led people to speculate on their origins—extra-terrestrials or lost continents, the most popular—none of which are any more reasonable than the obvious explanations that have come down through the generations as myth and folklore. Whether or not one agrees with the notion that at some point the personal God—more precisely, the Tri-Personal God—through a blatant interference in the evolutionary process, ‘created’ humanity by a signal and unique historical event, one cannot dismiss the relative newness of the human species.

Yes, we are still the early humans. We can look back at both archaeological and literate remains that chart broadly if not always finely the course of human social evolution, how we as a society of persons (thinking beings) have tried this and that way to organize ourselves as a whole in order to ensure our survival. The study of these remains is called history, and that history at the very least goes back seven thousand years, with a twilight zone of perhaps an additional five. Human society is what makes personality possible, and vice versa: they emerge together in that ‘creation’ event. History reveals how humanity is evolving its social and personal aspects to reach that equilibrium which was instilled in the process of creation: We were created potentially perfect, and nature demands we realize our potential.

It is not merely in the evolution of social structures that our potential lies. These are only the containers that shape their contents—humanity as human beings. How we organize ourselves, families, kinship groups, languages, nations, follows the same laws as other forms of evolution—the survival of the fittest. This will always happen, this principle will always assert itself, no matter what individuals or groups attempt to apply various templates of their own to shape the human family. We smugly assert the superiority, for example, of liberal ‘democracy’ in government, and free market capitalism in economics, over the personal monarchies and regulated economies of earlier times, or the gender ‘equality’ of today’s feminist societies over what is derisively called ‘patriarchy,’ but which really ensure our survival?

We are still the early humans. Our first attempts at social and personal equilibrium, where we tried every form of government, every plan of economy, every hierarchy of social strata, has brought us where we are today. Are we there yet? I mean, have we achieved social and personal equilibrium, are we a society that functions justly and as we were created to function? And what of ourselves as persons? Has the cult of personality succeeded in ensuring every person’s health and happiness? ‘Liberty, equality, fraternity,’ the chant of the French Revolution, sounded so right when it began, despite the mountains of severed heads that tacitly denied the reality the words stood for. ‘Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,’ America’s credo, has this attained the potential for which humanity was created?

We have thousands and thousands of years left to achieve what is written in our very bones and blood. We have history to teach us, and now our technology can be integrated into our search for that which will ensure our survival as a species. Neither personal monarchy nor social democracy is to be ruled out as the chosen vehicle of good government, nor is any particular economic model to be totally rejected. What we must, for our survival, rule out, what we must reject, is our anti-progressive and actually suicidal preference for comfort over commitment, for short cuts over completion, for appearances over reality. Yes, for lies over the truth. In ‘democratic’ societies, what are we willing to work for?

What America and Europe, and perhaps other places, are experiencing currently on both social and personal levels is a wake up call in the fight for survival. It took centuries to evolve the social and personal guarantees of human survival that we were finally enjoying in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The assertions of an anti-humanism dressed up as political and social liberation that began to erode western civilization two centuries ago, starting small, have now placed both society and citizen in a position of great danger. The principle of survival of the fittest that drives the evolutionary processes despite the doctrines of political pundits will, fortunately, drive human society back to its mainstream course, and it is beginning now. Everyone must ask themselves, ‘Where should I stand?’

We are still the early humans. We have been taught to ‘think globally, and act locally,’ and this is a principle that can be applied whether we are for the evolutionary process that shaped the human family, or for the social engineering process that seeks to stop evolution in its tracks. The irony is that those who fight against social evolution, are the ones who promote Darwinian theories as applied to nature at large, and those who prefer the ‘traditional’ social norms that evolution has perfected are the ones who promote Creationism and similar religious attitudes. Traditional social norms evolved because society and individual survive best following them. As long as the human family exists, they will exist, and as long as we as a species still want reality, real life, over fantasy, we will be able to realize our potential.

I am optimistic. Time is on our side. We have thousands and thousands of years left. We are still the early humans.