Eyewitnesses

Today was the feast-day of John the Theologian, that is, Christ’s youngest disciple, called ‘the beloved,’ who also sealed his life not with a martyrdom of blood as did all the other holy Apostles, but with a martyrdom of an entire life—his life.

When we commemorate a saint on his or her feast-day, we include in the worship service hymns and chants that tell of their exploits and suffering, and often there will be an ikon set out for veneration (to kiss the ikon acknowledges that we affirm the life and faith of the person depicted). The focus of the worship service is then, as always, only God, but we bring to mind the saint or the event commemorated — we bring them to our mind, and also to God’s, presenting them to Him in thanksgiving and praise. “Christ, You are the life of your saints, and we bless and thank You for Your faithfulness in saving them and changing them into beings like Yourself, who are capable, and who want to, live forever, with You.”

I wanted to worship on this day for two reasons: to honor the sabbath, and to honor the saint whose writings have been so pivotal in my life. The gospel according to John, his three letters, and the book of Revelation, all have left a deep impression on my life, and formed me in my witness.

After the divine liturgy, Fr John came out and stood in the nave, and talked to us a little about John the Theologian, and what his example means for us as Christians today. “Fellow Christians and friends,” he always starts out, respecting the mystery that not everyone who comes to church is a Christian yet, “John, the beloved disciple of our Lord, is very important for this reason, he is an eyewitness of the resurrection, and not only that, but of all that happened to the Lord. He was there, watching, with the mother of Jesus and the other women, at the foot of the cross, when our Lord suffered and died. It was to him, that our Lord said, ‘Behold your mother,’ and to His mother, ‘Behold your son,’ thus handing over to John the care of his mother, as there was no one else He could trust.” Forgive me, Fr John, if you happen to read this, as I am putting words in quotation marks that you said, not exactly, but essentially. I hope I was hearing you right.

Fr John continued, pointing out that our faith is deliberately and strictly based on eyewitness accounts, not on myths, not on legends, not on fantasy, but on what really happened, in human history, that was reported by reliable eyewitnesses. Except for Judaism, no other faith can make this claim. Our faith is based on what men described as eyewitnesses, and it is sustained to this very day by eyewitnesses. Eyewitnesses of what?

As the song goes, “Were you there, when they crucified my Lord?”
A beautiful and moving song it is, and the question it asks begs to be answered in the positive, “Yes.”

Jesus says to Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). To many, this seems to describe the state of blind faith, and in a strict sense it does. No one alive today has witnessed the resurrected Jesus of the forty days’ sojourn, but yet there are people alive today, and there have been in every generation since the first, who are eyewitnesses of the resurrection. How can that be?

Fr John described the apostolic succession, generation after generation, bishops laying hands on their successors and handing over to them their office and guardianship of the holy tradition, but wait, there is more.

The apostolic succession also means the handing over of that life in faith, that eyewitness faith of the resurrection. In every generation, Fr John said, there are people whose lives prove that they are eyewitnesses, that they see the resurrected Jesus and follow Him, not as blind men but as those who have received their sight, and their witness is irrefutable and invincible. We have known people like this. Some of us actually are these eyewitnesses. It is the presence of such eyewitnesses in the Church that preserves her from one generation to the next. As the saying goes, ‘there’s more here than meets the eye.’

It was appointed to me to go to the service today to honor my saint, and to worship the Lord and pray with the brethren, for yet another reason: to be an eyewitness of something that I had never even heard of, let alone seen, before.

After the liturgy, Fr John told us that there would be a 40-day memorial, followed by a 40-day blessing. I could see the mound of white kollyva on a small table in front of the ikon of Christ enthroned at His second coming. I knew that was for a memorial service. The mound had a cross on it and two initials, M and G. I couldn’t remember anyone reposing 40 days before today, so I had to wait for the explanation.

The 40-day blessing in the Orthodox Church is the service where a woman comes back 40 days after childbirth to thank God for safe delivery, and to present her child for its dedication to the Lord. After giving birth she doesn’t come to church until the fortieth day. This custom is based on the Hebrew 40 day blessing, as are many Orthodox traditions. Our faith is closest to that of the family of Jesus and His apostles, all of whom were Jews. We are the ‘new Jews’ by faith in Jesus Christ, Y’shúa ha-Mashíach in Hebrew.

The memorial service began. There was something different about it. Fr John was chanting prayers for the repose of the... child of God, Maria! What? I listened more closely. Yes, the prayers were in a different form and were based on passages of scripture where Jesus speaks of letting the children come to Him. The service continued.
At the place where we normally sing Aionia i mnimi (Eternal be his/her/their memory) instead we sang Christos anesti (Christ is risen from the dead, by death trampling down death, and to those in the tombs bestowing life). This was probably the tradition when memorial services are sung during the forty days of Pascha.

After the memorial service was finished, Fr John turned to us and addressed us. This little Maria was baptised by her godmother. She is now in the presence of God and lives with the saints who worship God unceasingly. (Fr John made reference to the vision of heavenly worship in the book of Isaiah, whence the inspiration for the painting at the top of this post.) Her twin sister, Alexa, would now be presented to the Church in the service of 40-day blessing. Little Alexa will someday understand that her twin sister is alive and praying for her, for her life and salvation, but right now she’s too little to understand.

How truly awesome our God is, that of all things that can happen, He can yet turn sorrow to joy, curse to blessing, and death to life! The members of the family of little Maria and Alexa filled the narthex of the temple as we departed, sharing the kollyva that had been made to commemorate the entrance of their little one into paradise, while they waited for the 40-day blessing to begin, where Fr John would carry Alexa in his arms, praying the psalms and prophets, while walking through the nave, up the steps of the soléa and into the sanctuary, walking with her around the holy altar, and then emerging to give her back to her mother and father, dedicated.

We see with our natural eyes, a priest of God carrying an infant into the earthly copy of the Holy Place, and we also see, by our spiritual eyes, the great High Priest Jesus Christ carrying her twin sister into the real Holy Place on high.
Glory to You, O God, glory to You!

We are indeed, eyewitnesses.