Καλημέρα Πάντες ω! Αδελφοί

The Lord's Epiphany
Kaftoun, Mount Lebanon.
Anonymous, 13th Century A.D.

The epigraphy of the icon is written in three languages: In Greek, we find below the circle segment in the center, the main inscription: "The Baptism", above Jesus' crucifix halo: "Jesus Christ". In the upper left corner abbreviated: "The Prophet David" and in the upper right corner: "The Prophet Isaiah". In Syriac, on the open scroll that the prophet Isaiah holds in his hand, we read a composed text: "Thus the LORD has spoken: Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation." (Isaiah 1: 16; 12: 3). In Arabic, on the scroll held by David: "The sea saw it and fled; Jordan turned back. The mountains skipped like rams, The little hills like the lambs of the forest. What ails you, O sea, that you fled? O Jordan, that you turned back?" (Psalm 114) "The waters saw You, O God, the waters saw You and were troubled."

The music that is playing when you enter this blog is my favorite Greek Epiphany song. The commemoration of the baptism of Jesus Christ in the Jordan by the honourable prophet and forerunner John the Baptist is coming up quickly, January 6th to be exact. I want to share this song with everyone who visits my blog. Of course, on the eighth day of Epiphany, I'll be removing the song. If you like it as much as I do, you can download it from here.

Καλημέρα Πάντες ω! Αδελφοί, ακούσατε την σήμερον εορτήν.
Σήμερον τα Φώτα και εορτή και λαμπρά ημέρα δεσποτική.
Καλημέρα, καλημέρα, καλή σου μέρα αφέντη με την κερά.

Εν αρχή ως ήρχισεν ο Θεός εποίησεν την γην και τον ουρανόν.
Ύστερον δε πάλιν από αυτά, έκαμεν τα ζώα και τα φυτά.
Έκαμεν την θάλασσαν, ποταμούς, τον μέγαν Ιορδάνην και αλλουνούς.
Καλημέρα, καλημέρα, καλή σου μέρα αφέντη με την κερά.

Ο Αδάμ και η Εύα ημάρτησαν και εις αμαρτίαν υπέπεσαν.
Την απάτην στον όφην την έριξαν και του θεού δεν είπαν πως έφταιξαν.
Αλλ’ ο όφις ήτον διάβολος, των πονηρών δαιμόνων διδάσκαλος.
Καλημέρα, καλημέρα, καλή σου μέρα αφέντη με την κερά.

Μα ο Ιησούς ο φιλάνθρωπος ήρθεν εις τον κόσμον ως άνθρωπος.
δια να λυτρώσει πάντας ημάς από αυτάς τας χείρας τας μιαράς.
Καλημέρα, καλημέρα, καλή σου μέρα αφέντη με την κερά.

Και τον Ιωάννην εζήτησεν και στο βάπτισμά του τον έκραξεν.
«Ιωάννη Πρόδρομε σου ζητώ, στον μέγαν Ιορδάνην να βαπτιστώ».
Καλημέρα, καλημέρα, καλή σου μέρα αφέντη με την κερά.

Και ο Ιωάννης του έλεγεν και σφοδρώς το σώμαν του έτρεμεν.
«Πώς να σε βαπτίσω ω! Λυτρωτά όπου η χειρ μου τρέμει και δειλιά!
Πως τολμώ να βάλω την χείραν μου, εις την κορυφήν του Σωτήρα μου»!
Καλημέρα, καλημέρα, καλή σου μέρα αφέντη με την κερά.

«Άφες φόβον Πρόδρομε σου ζητώ στον μέγαν Ιορδάνην να βαπτιστώ».
Τότε τον βαφτίζει ο Βαπτιστής και έλαμψεν η έρημος παρ’ ευθύς.
Καλημέρα, καλημέρα, καλή σου μέρα αφέντη με την κερά.

Και το πνεύμα ως είδος περιστεράς και λεπτής και ωραίας και καθαράς.
Και φωνή ηκούσθην εκ’ του πατρός, «ούτος είν’ ο υιός μ’ ο αγαπητός»
και τα χερουβείμ θυμιάζουσιν και τα σεραφείμ τον δοξάζουσιν.
Καλημέρα, καλημέρα, καλή σου μέρα αφέντη με την κερά.

Δια τούτο πάντες ω! Αδελφοί ακούσατε την σήμερον εορτήν.
Να την εορτάσομεν αδελφοί, ότι είν’ ημέρα δεσποτική.
Καλημέρα, καλημέρα, καλή σου μέρα αφέντη με την κερά.

Και εις έτη πολλά. Και του χρόνου να ’στε καλά.

A very loose translation of this song is in the first comment…

Λειτουργία — Worship

As the door of the year AD 2008 closes, and that of the year AD 2009 opens, the Lord finds me with Him in the apostle’s letter to the Hebrews, cover to cover. In the twelfth chapter we find what describes heavenly worship…

What you have come to is nothing known to the senses.
Hebrews 12:18a

What you have come to is Mount Zion and the city of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem where the millions of angels have gathered for the festival, with the whole Church in which everyone is a “first-born son” and a citizen of Heaven. You have come to God Himself, the supreme Judge, and been placed with the spirits of the saints who have been made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator who brings a new Covenant and a Blood for purification which pleads more insistently than Abel’s. Make sure that you never refuse to listen when He speaks.
Hebrews 12:22-25a

We have been given possession of an unshakable Kingdom. Let us therefore hold on to the grace that we have been given and use it to worship God in a way that He finds acceptable, in reverence and fear. For our God is a consuming fire.
Hebrews 12:28-29

…and in the thirteenth chapter, how we are to walk in the presence of Jesus, our great High Priest…

Continue to love each other like brothers, and always remember to welcome strangers, for by doing this, some people have entertained angels without knowing it. Keep in mind those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; and those who are being badly treated, since you too are in the one Body. Marriage is to be honored by all, and marriages are to be kept undefiled, because fornicators and adulterers will come under God’s judgment. Put greed out of your lives and be content with whatever you have; God Himself has said, “I will not fail you or desert you,” and so we can say with confidence: With the Lord to help me, I fear nothing: what can man do to me?
Hebrews 13:1-6

Remember your leaders who preached the Word of God to you, and as you reflect on the outcome of their lives, imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same today as He was yesterday and as He will be forever.
Hebrews 13:7-8

…and finally, in the apostle’s own words, my prayer for the new year.

I pray that the God of peace, who brought our Lord Jesus back from the dead to become the great Shepherd of the sheep by the Blood that sealed an eternal Covenant, may make [us] ready to do His will in any kind of good action; and turn us all into whatever is acceptable to Himself through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Hebrews 13:20-21

Revelation 1:8

Ἐγώ εἰμι τὸ Α καὶ τὸ Ω, λέγει Κύριος ὁ Θεός, ὁ ὢν καὶ ὁ ἦν καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος, ὁ παντοκράτωρ.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

ごらんなさい 私はすべてを新しくします

Goran nasai. Watashi wa subete o atarashiku shimasu.

ἰδοὺ καινὰ ποιῶ πάντα
Behold, I make all things new.
(Revelation 21:5 KJV)

Naikū 内宮, the great shrine at Ise 伊勢, Japan, is the earthly residence of the sun goddess Amaterasu 天照, who is the divine ancestor of the imperial family.
According to the Nihon shoki 日本書紀, around 2,000 years ago Yamatohime-no-mikoto, daughter of Emperor Suinin, set out from Mt. Miwa in search of a permanent location to worship the goddess Amaterasu, wandering for 20 years through the regions of Ohmi and Mino. Her search eventually brought her to Ise, where she established Naikū after hearing the voice of Amaterasu saying, "Ise is a secluded and pleasant land. In this land I wish to dwell." Previously, Amaterasu had been worshiped at the Imperial residence in Yamato, then briefly at Kasanui in the eastern Nara basin.
Strangely, the traditional establishment date of the shrine is 4 B.C., the same year as Jesus of Nazareth is thought to have been born. The first shrine building at Naikū was erected by Emperor Temmu (678-686), with the first ceremonial rebuilding being carried out by his wife, Empress Jito, in 692. It is the ceremonial rebuilding of the shrine that concerns us. The shrine buildings at Naikū and Gekū, as well as the Uji Bridge, are rebuilt every 20 years as a part of the Shinto belief of the death and renewal of nature and as a way of passing building techniques from one generation to the next. The next rebuilding of Ise Shrine is due in 2013.

The wood to rebuild the shrines comes from a sacred mountain where the gods are supposed to dwell. No one cuts wood there, except to rebuild or repair shrines or the imperial residences. The Japanese emperor is considered divine.

There are always telltale traces of the Gospel truth scattered throughout the pagan religions, of ancient times as well as those of today. Why is this? In my view, it seems to me that this is part of the preparation of all nations for receiving the Good News of Jesus Christ before He comes to them. Just as satan plants tares among the wheat, so does our God plant wheat among the tares, hints, so to speak. He does this, so that when Jesus Christ the Son of God arrives in a culture, He isn’t a total stranger, and His words are not completely unintelligible. The Good News, in fact, reveals the full significance of the hints planted in each culture, and completes them.

There are many hints in Japanese culture, that Jesus comes to build upon and complete, if we let Him. This rebuilding of temples every generation is not done only to teach carpentry skills and as a symbol of the renewal of nature. Far from it! What this rebuilding demonstrates is the acts of the living and true God, who says, “Behold, I make all things new,” and He not only says it, He does it as well. As followers of Jesus and disciples of the Word of God, we should take this lesson to heart. Even among the pagan myths and customs can be found reminders of, and even correctives to, our faith and works. The Christian world has built mightily and in everlasting stone the temples where we worship, and this may demonstrate some aspect of God’s sovereignty. But if the Church is the people of God, and the Temple of the living One, well, I think we can learn something from the Japanese about the crafting of buildings for worship, don’t you?

Earlier this year, I was in Japan with Brock, my synergos and brother in Christ, for two full weeks, and Ise was one of the places we visited. Brock later returned and lived and worked in Japan for three months with our friend Taka. What we both observed, especially Brock during his longer stay, is the pervasive, rampant and hopeless materialism of many of the Japanese people. I don’t mean that there aren’t spiritual people in Japan. There certainly are those who have leisure and resources to pursue the many historic and artistic traditions that comprise their religious culture. But the majority of people are driven to work hard, almost to knock themselves out achieving, and then trying to fill what little leisure time they have with meaningless pastimes—gambling, drinking or entertainment—and their souls have no real refreshment. Life is accepted with a kind of hopeless fatalism.

Shinto is an animistic religion. Everything in the world, especially in the wild, is inhabited by spirits. The human response to this ranges from superstitious fear to veneration of what they know not, except by traditional myths. Worship consists mostly in asking for favors, and seeking oracles about the future. This goes very deep, much deeper than what we consider “superstition” in the West. We haven’t seen the likes of this in our cultures for a thousand years, and our wiccans and druids are paltry posers compared to the priests of Shinto and the devotees of the shrines. To an ordinary tourist, it adds color and flavor to a visit to Japan. But the Japanese people, who think of themselves as the only divine race and their land as the country of the gods, are in need of salvation as much as anyone. Whether they or we realise it enough, the traditional culture and religion of Japan is very close to spiritual implosion, much as Greco-Roman culture was in the time of Christ. And our response is…?

Our visit was during the Orthodox Easter season, and we attended liturgy at Nagoya’s Annunciation Orthodox church, a very small, humble community meeting in a large converted house. The service was chanted in the archaic form of Japanese that was translated by the original 19th century Russian missionaries. My friend Taka who agreed to come with us is not a Christian, but we had hopes he would hear something in the morning service of Holy Saturday that would confirm our witness to him about Christ’s power over sin and death. He couldn’t understand a thing he heard! It was as meaningless to him as were the Buddhist mantras chanted at the morning service at Kosho-ji temple.

The Orthodox community has purchased land in central Nagoya for the erection of a proper church. I saw the model. It will be a replica of an 11th century Russian cathedral, an imposing cube with arches along the roof line and covered with numerous domes. This is what the people of Nagoya will see when they pass by—a Russian cultural phenomenon. That is what Christ will be for them.

My mind wanders back to Ise, and the shrines that get torn down and rebuilt of new materials every twenty years. A religion of nature spirits is infused with hints of the Christ who makes all things new, and the faith of Jesus is overlaid with the crust of a thousand years of plaster and gilding. When witnessing Christ to a nation without tradition, without history or roots, show them the ancient Tree and teach them how to eat of its fruit and live forever. When witnessing Christ to a nation enslaved to tradition, history and the nature gods of its ancient land, show them the living Christ who makes all things new, who empties Hades of its captives, and who walks among them, unhindered by our past, gathering His sheep.

What we do not see

This is Christmas time, the part of the church year focusing on the incarnation of the Word of God in Jesus Christ. Yet an Orthodox presbyter who has a wonderful blog has posted some remarkable insights on—the Resurrection.

In an old book that I have in my library (Early Christian Prayers) which was a discard from Mount Angel Abbey, and which I picked up for a buck at a used book store in Albany, Oregon in 1975, occurs these words quoting the paschal homily of John Chrysostom:

Isaias knew it would be so,
The world of shadows mourned, he cried,
when it met you,
mourned at its bringing low, wept at its deluding.
The shadows seized a body
and found it was God;
they reached for earth
and what they held was heaven;
they took what they could see:
it was what no one sees…

This is the passage I thought of when I read the title of Fr Stephen's post.

Here are a few passages from What we do not see. If you want to read the whole post (which is perhaps only twice as long as this excerpt), just click on the link at the end. You will not regret it.

There are many who want to speak about the resurrection as if it were a car wreck down at the corner drugstore. Whatever it was (is), it is very much more, even, indeed, something completely different - not like anything else.

And it is here, that the continuing problem of vision is made manifest. Orthodox Christian writers are wont to utter things like, “God will save the world through beauty” (Dostoevsky), or “Icons will save the world” (recently in First Things) all of which makes some people want to run out and complain. But at their heart, such statements are trying to say something about the nature of the resurrection and its action in our world.

The resurrection of Christ is something completely new. It is a manifestation of God unlike anything we have ever known. It is Truth made manifest in the flesh - not the truth to be found in an average living man. I am 55 and I look very unlike what I did at 10. I look decidedly unlike what I will in another 100 years (you probably wouldn’t like to see that). Thus we never see anything in an eternal state. But the resurrection is just that. It does not belong exactly to the classification of “things created,” for it is the “uncreated” before our eyes.

And thus the Church paints the things that pertain to the resurrection (including the saints) in an iconic fashion - not like portraiture or the “truth” that generally lies before our eyes. Icons paint the Truth as it appears to eyes that behold the resurrection. By the same token, the Church does not write about the resurrection in the way we write about other things, for the resurrection is not one of the other things but a thing that is unlike anything else. Thus the Fathers of the Church said that “icons do with color what Scripture does with words.”
And both have something to do with vision…

Read everything from start to finish here.

Axios, Father Stephen, áxios!

η γενεσις του Ιησου Χριστου

This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)

Her husband Joseph, being a man of honor and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins." (Matthew 1:19-21)

Some wise men came to Jerusalem from the east. "Where is the infant king of the Jews?" they asked. "We saw his star as it rose and have come to do him homage."
(Matthew 2:1b-2)

And there in front of them was the star they had seen rising; it went forward and halted over the place where the child was. (Matthew 2:9b)

Joseph set out from the town of Nazareth in Galilee and traveled up to Judaea, to the town of David called Bethlehem, since he was of David's house and line, in order to be registered together with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. While they were there the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to a son, her first-born. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger. (Luke 2:4-7)

In the countryside close by there were shepherds who lived in the fields and took it in turns to watch their flocks during the night. (Luke 2:8)

The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shown around them. They were terrified, but the angel said, "Do not be afraid! Listen! I bring you news of great joy, a joy to be shared by the whole people. Today in the town of David a savior has been born to you: he is Christ the Lord. And here is a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger." And suddenly with the angel there was a great throng of the heavenly host, praising God and singing, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace to men who enjoy his favor." (Luke 2:9-14)

Listen, you heavens; earth attend for Yahweh is speaking, "I reared sons, I brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its owner and the ass its master's crib, Israel knows nothing, my people understands nothing." (Isaiah 1:2-3)

A shoot springs from the stock of Jesse, a scion thrusts from his roots: on him the spirit of Yahweh rests, a spirit of wisdom and insight, a spirit of counsel and power, a spirit of knowledge and the fear of Yahweh. (Isaiah 11:1-2)

His state was divine, yet he did not cling
to his equality with God but emptied himself
to assume the condition of a slave,
and became as all men are.
(Philippians 2:6-7)

The Word was made flesh, he lived among us, and we saw his glory, the glory that is his as the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

No one has ever seen God; it is the only Son, who is nearest to the Father's heart, who has made him known. (John 1:18)

As for me…

As for me, my spirit is all humble devotion to the Cross: the Cross which so greatly offends the unbelievers, but is salvation and eternal life to us. Where is your wise man now, or your subtle debater? Where are the fine words of our so-called intellectuals? Under the Divine dispensation, Jesus Christ our God was conceived by Mary of the seed of David and the Spirit of God; He was born, and He submitted to baptism, so that by His Passion He might sanctify water.

Mary's virginity was hidden from the prince of this world; so was her child-bearing, and so was the death of the Lord. All these three trumpet-tongued secrets were brought to pass in the deep silence of God.

How then were they made known to the world?
Up in the heavens a star gleamed out, more brilliant than all the rest; no words could describe its lustre, and the strangeness of it left men bewildered. The other stars and the sun and moon gathered round it in chorus, but this star outshone them all. Great was the ensuing perplexity; where could this newcomer have come from, so unlike its fellows?

Everywhere magic crumbled away before it; the spells of sorcery were all broken, and superstition received its death-blow. The age-old empire of evil was overthrown, for God was now appearing in human form to bring in a new order, even life without end. Now that which had been perfected in the Divine counsels began its work; and all creation was thrown into a ferment over this plan for the utter destruction of death.

— Ignatios of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians

Mother Gavrilía in India

God had sent her to India. At the time, she herself did not know why. What is important, though, is that all who came to know her, whether Indians or Westerners, saw and recognized in her a completely different way of life. They saw and discovered the ascetic character, the humility and deep spirituality that Orthodoxy has preserved through the centuries. Those of the East saw another West. Those of the West saw their own East, the existence of which they did not even suspect. Had any other «missionaries» identified themselves, to such an extent, with those they served? [Yes!—J. Hudson Taylor] Who had ever eaten, drunk, slept or travelled the way these people ate, drank, slept or travelled? Who else had done that? In those days, too, almost all the «missionarizing» lived, wherever they went, under exceptional conditions—good hotels, special food and water, comfortable travelling arrangements—so as to care better for «their» Locals. Who were these people they were calling «theirs»? By never assuming this (sometimes imperceptible and latent in Missionary work) attitude of superiority towards those one is ministering [to], she always tended and helped without hurting… Yes… This is why her passage left a deep mark. «Indeed, I have become everything in turn to men of every sort» (1 Corinthians 9:22). Actually, she never preached Orthodoxy, but rather, catechized with the heart, without words, with the unique example of her own life.

—The Ascetic of Love, p. 47,
a biography, with her sayings and personal testimonies,
of Gavrilía Papayánni (1897-1992)

Some of the sayings (numbered as in the book)…
4. Orthodox spirituality is knowledge acquired through suffering, rather than through learning.
7. There is nothing cheaper than money.
29. True inner progress begins only when a person stops reading anything but the Gospel.
45. The faculty of judgment (Greek, krísis) comes naturally to man. Criticism (Greek, katákrisis) and reproval spring from malice. Discernment (Greek, dhiákrisis) is a gift from God, and we should pray for it; it is essential to our protection and progress.
48. When we must be helped, God will send someone to us. We are all fellow-travellers.
58. We are the first to feel the joy we give to others.
63. Miracle is the normal course of events according to God's will. What we call a Miracle is only what is natural to God.
81. Do what you must do, and God will do what He must do.
85. We must not «surrender» to His will. This is what soldiers do. We, who are His children, must offer Him our own will along with all our being—and tell Him: «Lord, take all my faults and imperfections and set them right».
99. Some of the sailors on a ship may quarrel and fight each other, but the ship sails on and reaches its destination. The same is true of the Church, because Christ Himself is at the helm.
101. Love alone is enought to make a miracle happen. Neither prayer nor the komboskini (prayer rope) have such power.
115. If we are interrupted while speaking, we must not continue. It means that what we were about to say should not be heard. The Angels do this.
124. To love someone with all one's soul is to pray for him. Whoever has this experience is in Paradise.
157. Never take part in a conversation when someone is being criticised or commented upon.
173. If you want to do something, do not announce it openly. In this way it will materialize in words rather than in reality. So, keep it secret from everybody until the last moment.
175. Speaking spontaneously about God comes truly from God, whereas in «preaching» the Ego comes first. In the first case, the seed takes root, in the second it does not.
201. Two things are of great importance: «Love one another» and «Do not be afraid; only have faith».
244. Only men of God who make no compromises can recognize each other.
258. Every person is «sent».
386. We should be interested neither in the other person's response nor in the results of our efforts. We must simply try—God will do the rest.

What do I mean by these words

What do I mean by these words
which contradict each other?
What is this course I am counseling
that seems to lead nowhere sound?

These words,
like sparks spraying
from the sharpening wheel,
while what really is the matter
is shaped and sharpened,

they only indicate,
not the direction of my soul
nor advice to any,
but there is a wheel turning,
and one fashioning a tool
somewhere.

Again, seek,
stopping to undo your shoes,
the holy mountain,
and then cease,
dropping to your knees
beside the stream
that issues from the root
of an enormous tree,
flowering and bearing fruit
like a luscious fountain,
and know this — unlike my poems,
this is no dream,
only attainable ingress
into living eternity.

Leave behind all the talk
lavishing your spirit.
Approach the source of song,
more searing as you near it.

After words,
return to your proper place and peel
the skin from your eyes
that were so draped and darkened.

They only vindicate,
not the inspection of your soul
nor the price of plenty,
but Wisdom is wild,
learning does not languish
in its lair.

Where have you been by your own words,
my sister or my brother?
Take your resourcefulness querying
beyond me to holy ground.

—Romanós

The blood, and the joy, of freedom

It is meet and right to sing of Thee, to bless Thee, to praise Thee, to give thanks to Thee, to worship Thee. For Thou art God ineffable, incomprehensible, invisible, inconceivable;
Thou art from everlasting, and art ever the same.
Prayer at the Anáphora

This is a hymn of apophatic theology, an apophatic exclamation.
In other words, it is a hymn born from the life of the Cross and Resurrection, from the inalienable joy and life which come through the Cross into all the world. It is meet and right for God to be everywhere hymned, blessed, praised, thanked and worshipped by man because He is ineffable, incomprehensible, inconceivable, and from everlasting and ever the same. If He were not invisible and incomprehensible, He would not be God and it would not be worth the trouble of singing of Him; indeed it would be wrong for us to do anything of the sort. As it is, He keeps us watchful and sober, and gives us life through incorruption.

What reassurance this gift from the Liturgy brings!
What an opening into life, what a victory this is!

We give thanks, we hymn, we bless God for the difficulties we have, for what we cannot approach or attain. For it is these things alone, as realities and trials and not artificial verbal constructions, that pour into the veins of our existence the blood of freedom and life which the living God has given us and gives us still.

We are nothing and less than nothing, and He who is all and more than all draws near, and becomes permanently one with us: one soul, one body. He gives His soul and body, the whole of His divinity and His humanity to us.

If He were not invisible and incomprehensible, He would not be God. He would not have led us up to heaven. He would not now be able to bestow upon us the Kingdom which is to come; and we should not be able to give thanks for benefactions “known and unknown.” In the “unknown,” in ignorance, in the area we cannot approach, we should never be able to find and see the most marvellous and endless of His benefactions towards us. “Now all things have been filled with light, heaven and earth and what is under the earth.”

Only He who is true God, in His true worship, can create true men.

Thus the statement “For Thou art God ineffable, incomprehensible, invisible, inconceivable…” rises before us “like a very mountain, steep and hard to approach,” from which the uncreated breeze descends and swells the lungs of man, bringing life to his innermost parts with the joy of freedom, of something unqualified, dangerous, and wholly alive.

How often we want to make God conceivable, expressible, visible, perceptible with worldly senses. How much we want to worship idols—to be shut into the prison of the non-essential, of error and heresy. The Divine Liturgy, however, does not allow us to do anything of the sort. It destroys our idols of God and raises up before us His saving Image, the Word “who is the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15), the archetype of our true, hidden, God-made being.

—Hymn of Entry, pp. 63-64, by Archimandrite Vasileios

A ramble on Revelation

This evening a friend shared with me the beginnings of a piece of music he’s working on which was inspired by his thoughts of a young woman whose life has been radically changed by a tragic accident. Her life is, in a strange way, now similar to that of the apostle John imprisoned on Patmos, where his eyes were opened. Like John, she now is beginning to see things as they really are in this world, not as the world has painted them. Suffering often has this effect, “I saw a door open in heaven, and heard the same voice speaking to me, the voice like a trumpet, saying, Come up here…” (Revelation 4:1)

When I received the first draft recording of this song, I had just finished reading the post of a fellow blogger, Jesus Transfigured and Lamp Stands, and I was about to leave a comment there.
It seemed an odd coincidence that this moment of chrónos had been transfigured into a moment of kairós with the book of Revelation as its subject. Well, I wrote my comment and left it there, but I think I'd like to share this ramble on Revelation with visitors to my blog, because to me the topic is of high importance. I hope some of you will find encouragement from these thoughts…

You write that Apokálypsis “might be the toughest part of the bible,” and then you give the reasons. All these reasons stem from the fact that people seem to think it is their duty or their right to understand and expound the prophecies in this book, but from an Orthodox bible-believing point of view, this is the wrong way to approach this book.

What is the right way to approach it?
Well, to be honest, the instructions are contained right in the text of the book itself. “Happy the man who reads this prophecy [aloud], and happy are those who listen to him, if they treasure [keep] all that it says, for the time is close.” (Revelation 1:3)
This instruction is right at the beginning. But there is another instruction, to be received with the same respect and care, at the ending of the book. “This is my solemn warning to all who hear the prophecies in this book: if anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him every plague mentioned in the book; if anyone cuts anything out of the prophecies in this book, God will cut off his share of the tree of life and of the holy city, which are described in this book.” (Revelation 22:18-19)

What do these instructions indicate to us about the book of Revelation?
That we should read the book aloud in the presence of others, so that both the reader and the listeners will be “happy” or “blessed” (Greek, makários, as opposed to evlogiménos, which also means “blessed” in a different sense). This is the same state of “blessed” as we find in what are called the Beatitudes (or in Greek, the Makarismoí), “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall have mercy shown them.”

We are not told, commanded, or even encouraged to understand or interpret (both intellectual functions) the prophecies in this book, but only to treasure or keep what is written in them (Greek, tiroúndes ta en aftí gegramména). It is the visions that Christ gave to His beloved disciple John the Revelator, and His very words, that we are to treasure and keep, experiencing the many strange things that John did, who knew no more than we know now about their significance. Even the words of Christ which he heard and wrote down, he understood no more than we do, but he treasured and kept them, as he was told to do, by Christ, and he has passed these instructions on to us.

So, do you see the difference between this, and what people have been so often prone to do?
It is not that Christ has forbidden us to understand the visions and the words written in the book of Revelation, but that He has told us what He wants us to do with them: He wants us to read aloud, to treasure and keep them. That is all.

Understanding, interpretation and the rest, He has in fact bestowed upon certain of His servants from the time of the Revelation until now, but to not one of them has He given leave to express these mysteries to others, because only Christ Himself may do this, again, to those whom He chooses. Hence, the instructions at the end of the book, “This is my solemn warning to all who hear the prophecies in this book: if anyone adds anything to them…”
To try to interpret for others, to try to tell others the meaning and significance of the prophecies in this book is sometimes to add to, sometimes to cut away from, them. In fact, the second set of instructions are just as emphatic in the negative as the first set are in the positive direction:

Read aloud, treasure and keep “what is written in them,”
and you are blessed.
“Add to or cut anything out of the prophecies in this book,”
and there are consequences.

What, then, becomes of anyone’s speculations on the content of the book of Revelation?
Reviewed in the light of the instructions contained in the book, they begin to look quite silly at best, and at worst take on the appearance of an unthinking disrespect.

On final thing I want to express is this.
All that I have written about how to approach the book of Revelation is not written to discourage anyone from reading it, as if it were too high and holy, and of no practical importance to oneself as an individual believer or as a member of the Church. God forbid!
We don’t have to understand something to derive benefit from it. Most people don’t know exactly how the stomach digests food, nor how the food nourishes them and gives them strength, yet they still eat. What we can know is sometimes very little, but even if the instructions are brief, as long as they are clear and can be carried out, we should follow them. The same is true of the instructions written on a bottle of cough medicine, as well as of the instructions I have pointed out written on the scroll of the Apokálypsis. Follow the instructions, and you will be blessed, makários.

“Happy the man who reads this prophecy [aloud], and happy are those who listen to him, if they treasure [keep] all that it says, for the time is close.” (Revelation 1:3)

The Beginning and the End

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,
the Beginning and the End.
Revelation 22:13

Jesus Christ is one Person fully human and fully divine, but as He enters and permeates time, we experience Him as He describes Himself to John the Revelator, as the Beginning and the End. Philosophers and theologians have written volumes about this, but I only want to say a few words about the Good News of Jesus Christ, which I believe also is experienced and works in us as the Beginning and the End.

The Good News “looks” different when it is the Beginning. It is a word that could be written down: The beginning of the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is written in the book of the prophet Isaiah… (Mark 1:1-2a)

The Good News is a word that could be spoken, that can be preached: Jesus went into Galilee. There He proclaimed the Good News from God. “The time has come,” He said, “and the Kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the Good News.”
(Mark 1:14b-15)

The Good News as the Beginning is what the Church through the ages and up till today has busied itself with, planting the seed of the Word, laying the foundations for the Kingdom, that which is the Good News as the End. It is just as necessary that the Good News should be the Beginning, as it should be the End. And though there is only one Good News, it “looks” different when it is the End.

The first Christians evangelized the world by bringing to it the Good News, the Beginning: Remember the Good News that I carry, “Jesus Christ risen from the dead, sprung from the race of David.” (2 Timothy 2:8)

Yet even back then, the Good News, the End, was revealed: For I am not ashamed of the Good News: it is the power of God saving all who have faith. (Romans 1:16a)

The Beginning of the Good News was proclamation such as this:
“Yes, God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not be lost but may have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

The End of the Good News was demonstration such as this:
This has taught us love—that He gave up His life for us; and we, too, ought to give up our lives for our brothers. (1 John 3:16)

The Good News, the Beginning, consists of transmitting the teaching of Jesus and the story of His saving acts: “I was born for this, I came into the world for this: to bear witness to the truth; and all who are on the side of truth listen to My voice.” (John 18:37b)

The Good News, the End, consists of Christ living in us and gathering His lambs into the Kingdom: Jesus knew that the hour had come for Him to pass from this world to the Father. He had always loved those who were His in the world, and now He showed how perfect His love was. (John 13:1)

I’m not entirely sure that I have been able to express my meaning well. Let me try again.

The Good News, the Beginning, is doing all the explicit evangelizing, missionary work, church “life,” everything that lays foundations for the building up of the Kingdom in spirit and truth, which is itself the Good News, the End, of which it is said, it “is close at hand.”

The Good News, the End, is letting Christ in us do that which He alone is capable of doing: “You are the Light of the world. A city built on a hilltop cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp to put it under a tub; they put it on the lampstand where it shines for everyone in the house. In the same way your light must shine in the sight of men, so that, seeing your good works, they may give the praise to your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16)

Our world, our culture, has been irradiated repeatedly and for a very long time with the Word of truth, and yet most people do not accept it, do not accept that Word which alone can save them—Jesus Christ. The same was true in the days of the Roman Empire. Yes, many were “added to their number,” through the preaching of the Good News, the Beginning. But back then, far more were added by their witnessing the holocaust of the martyrs, who went to their deaths without explicit preaching, who were transformed before the world by the love that they had, not only for their brothers, but for their enemies. That was the Good News, the End.

It is the demonstration of the Good News, the End, that is revealing Jesus to the world in this final age, effecting the true “end times harvest” of saints.

Do not keep the prophecies in this Book a secret, because the Time is close. Meanwhile, let the sinner go on sinning, and the unclean to continue to be unclean; let those who do good go on doing good, and those who are holy continue to be holy. Very soon now I shall be with you again, bringing the reward to be given to every man according to what he deserves. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
(Revelation 22:10-13)

From within... rivers of living water

From the Oneonta Trail, above Triple Falls, Columbia Gorge, Oregon

Another couple of great poems have appeared at The Postman, and I want to share them with anyone who comes upon my blog. They are not too long, but what they express is very long, and very deep, and full of truth, full of Jesus. All of the Postman's poems open and close with the Word of God, demonstrating that he knows in Whom he lives, and moves and has his being, and in Whom he writes his songs. My favorite line occurs in this excerpt from the second, longer poem Witness…

I can hide the thoughts I have
By actions that seem so righteous;
The grinding of my teeth
To be mistaken for a smile;
I can clench my fist in anger
But cross my hands behind;
I can seem so much better
Than one whose anger killed a man;
But on that great and terrible day,
When all the dead shall rise,
I will need to answer for my anger,
No more any place to hide,
With the killed and the killer,
Standing side by side.

Read the rest of the poem here, and read them both, and see for yourself how they start and how they end, and where they lead you.

ο Θεανθρωπος - The God-Man

Jesus, our Saviour, the God-Man…

We confess one and the same individual as perfect God and perfect Man.
He is God the Word Which was flesh.


For if He was not flesh, why was Mary chosen?
And if He is not God, whom does Gabriel call Lord?



If He was not flesh, who was laid in a manger?
And if He is not God, whom did the angels who came down from heaven glorify?



If He was not flesh, who was wrapped in swaddling clothes?
And if He is not God, in whose honor did the star appear?


If He was not flesh, whom did Simeon hold in his arms?
And if He is not God, to whom did Simeon say, “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace”?


If He was not flesh, whom did Joseph take when he fled into Egypt?
And if He is not God, who fulfilled the prophecy, “Out of Egypt have I called my Son”?


If He was not flesh, whom did John baptize?
And if He is not God, to whom the the Father say, “This is my beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased”?



If He was not flesh, who hungered in the desert?
And if He is not God, unto whom did the angels come and minister?



If He was not flesh, who was invited to the marriage in Cana of Galilee?
And if He is not God, who turned the water into wine?


If He was not flesh, who took the loaves in the desert?
And if He is not God, who fed the five thousand men and their women and children with five loaves and two fish?


If He was not flesh, who slept in the ship?
And if He is not God, who rebuked the waves and the sea?



If He was not flesh, with whom did Simon the Pharisee sit at dinner?
And if He is not God, who forgave the sins of the harlot?


If He was not flesh, who wore a man's garment?
And if He is not God, who healed the woman with an issue of blood when she touched His garment?


If He was not flesh, who spat on the ground and made clay?
And if He is not God, who gave sight to the eyes of the blind man with that clay?


If He was not flesh, who wept at Lazarus’ tomb?
And if He is not God, who commanded him to come forth out of the grave four days after his death?


If He was not flesh, whom did the Jews arrest in the garden?
And if He is not God, who cast them to the ground with the words, “I am He”?


If He was not flesh, who was judged before Pilate? And if He is not God, who frightened Pilate's wife in a dream?



If He was not flesh, whose garments were stripped from Him and parted by the soldiers? And if He is not God, why was the sun darkened upon His crucifixion?


If He was not flesh, who was crucified on the cross? And if He is not God, who shook the foundations of the earth?



If He was not flesh, whose hands and feet were nailed to the cross?
And if He is not God, how did it happen that the veil of the temple was rent in twain, the rocks were rent and the graves were opened?


If He was not flesh, who hung on the cross between two thieves?
And if He is not God, how could He say to the thief, “Today thou shalt be with me in paradise”?


If He was not flesh, who cried out and gave up the ghost?
And if He is not God, whose cry caused many bodies of the saints who slept to arise?


If He was not flesh, whom did the women see laid in the grave?
And if He is not God, about whom did the angel say to them, “He has arisen, He is not here”?


If He was not flesh, whom did Thomas touch when he put his hands into the prints of the nails?
And if He is not God, who entered through the doors that were shut?


If He was not flesh, who ate at the Sea of Tiberias?
And if He is not God, on whose orders were the nets filled with fish?

If He was not flesh, whom did the apostles see carried up into heaven?
And if He is not God, who ascended to the joyful cries of the angels, and to whom did the Father proclaim: “Sit at My right hand”?

If He is not God and man, then, indeed, our salvation is false, and false are the pronouncements of the prophets.

From A Spiritual Psalter or Reflections on God
(from the works of our Holy Father, Ephraim the Syrian)
Click on the images to see an enlarged version.